Left 4 Dead  Donna Nobis Pacem
by BTolson23
Summary: CREATE-A-CHARACTER SHEET CLOSED! Zach Wilde is a unique human. In the fact he is Half-Infected. Along with his best friend Brian, Zach tries to survive in his city. As he goes, he meets good friends and deadly enemies.
1. Character Sheet

**PLEASE, NO MORE CHARACTERS! THERE IS NOTHING MORE I HATE THAN HAVING TO NOT USE CHARACTERS, SO NO MORE! **

**Hello and welcome to the character sheet for my new Left 4 Dead story. First thing I'll say is that this will be starting next Tuesday, so that means you get a week to get your characters in. This also means that I'll be finished with another Fan Fiction by then, so I can keep my 4 story limit. Now to explain some things: **

**The characters in this story are special, in that they are part infected. Basically, one of their parents were immune, while the other was a carrier. As a result, this means that their children are able to get the infection and suffer some mutations, although they keep their minds. They are alive enough for the real infected to know they are human-ish, but they are zombie enough for humans to attack them. **

**At that, my character's name is Zach Wilde, so no taking the name. **

**Lastly, please check the reviews to see if the infected has been taken. All the main characters will be part special infected. Remember, please check the reviews and I'll try to update the list below.**

**Chosen Special Infected:**

**Tank – Me**

**Hunter: Reserved for Jetakon & taken by AlexTheMortal (I am way too nice for my own good lol)  
**

**Charger - Taken by Francis-kiana Jones!**

**Witch - Taken by Kara Medyx & Glass Soul! (I decided to be nice and let both witches get in!) **

**Smoker - GlassesDude**

**Jockey - Taken by Stealthhunter112**

**Boomer - Taken by Nezumimaru**

**Spitter - Taken by AlexTheMortal (Thanks, there was no love for the spitter lol)N  
**

**So, get making and I'll be glad to see your characters! **

**Name: **

**Age: **

**Infected: (Of the available choices)**

**Appearance: (Must have some kind of characteristic from the Special Infected. Examples: Smokers tumor like growths, Charger's large arm, Smoker's tongue etc etc)**

**History: (Must include when they were bitten and a brief description of what they were before the infection hit.)**

**Personality: **

**Other:**

**Can't wait for your characters, and I'll see you next Tuesday for the first chapter.**


	2. Born to be Wild

**(So, here we go, starting Left 4 Dead: Donna Nobis Pacem. I'd thought I'd mention, that the submitted characters won't appear all at the same time, so I'll be having them coming in at intervals. Don't worry, I decided to be nice and let ALL characters submitted in, although no more, please. So, let's base this started chapter to introduce my main character: Zach Wilde! Hope you like it as much as I liked writing it!) **

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" The party-goers shouter, or screamed, at the figure they were surrounding. The figure in question was currently holding a oversized novelty mug filled with booze, and was trying to down it in one shot.

The young man slammed the mug down on the table, and raised his arms in victory. "Hell yeah! That's how to be wild! Or rather, Wilde, like my name suggests!" Zach Wilde shouted, as the crowd cheered on. "Yeah baby, keep it coming!" Zach stood up from his seat, milking in the cheers from the party, before he suddenly held his stomach. "Urgh... someone get me a bucket, I think I'm gonna barf..."

A bucket was thrown to Zach and he grabbed it, before going face first into it. As people started to move away to do their own things at the party, a sickening splattering sound could be heard. Zach moved his head upwards and groaned. "That is vile..." Zach wiped his mouth, before opening the window closest to him, which happened to be to his backyard, and threw the bucket straight out, before slamming the window shut. Zach shook his head, and then spotted the hottest cheerleader currently on campus.

Zach walked up to the cheerleader, and smiled sleazily. "Oh, hey Jamie, care to show me a bit of one on one action?"

Jamie scoffed, and looked away. "In your dreams."

"Of course." Zach said modestly, causing Jamie to huff and stomp away. Zach grinned from ear to ear, to high and drunk to actually care about anything.

Zach sauntered off past a group of people his age and stole one of their cigarettes they were smoking, and took a deep drag. "Oooh yeah, man, that hits the SPOT!" Zach's exclamation caused the group to flinch.

"Hey, go find your own pieces, yeah?" One of the group said, only for Zach to look at him as if he were crazy.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY now, that is NOT the attitude, man! This is MY party, and I'll take what I want, when I want, and get laid by whoever I want!"

"Not Jamie though."

Zach turned around and rolled his eyes. "Oh, haha-de-fucking ha Brian." Brian Christy also laughed, when Zach collapsed on his chest, hugging him around the neck. "Brian, I love you man, you know that? I FUCKING love you!"

Brian looked embarrassed and shrugged at the looks he was receiving. "Alright, Zach, alright. You might want to sober up and all though."

"Who needs to sober up!" Zach questioned, putting his hands out wide. "Me? No way, man, no fucking way! I am WILD! I am THE man!" Zach started pointed at random people. "Not you. Not you." His finger pointed at a rather ugly female. "Well, you may BE a man, but not THE man! That spot is reserved for me, and only me Baby!"

Brian grabbed Zach's arm and physically dragged him up the stairs in the house. "Hey, Zach, come on, man. Don't make me get the hose on your ass."

"You'll do what to my ass?" Zach pulled away and staggered backwards. "Dude, I do not... I do NOT swing that way, dude..." Zach stumbled around and opened the door, to see two men and a woman under the covers. "Woah... wrong room..." Zach closed the door and stumbled to the opposite door, and opened the door to his parents' bedroom, which were currently away on a road trip for two weeks, leaving the 19 year old Zach on his own. Zach went over to the window, and opened it as wide as it could go, before shouting at the top of his voice: "I AM THE FUCKING MAN!"

"Shut up prick!" A man shouted from the sidewalk.

Zach replied with a middle finger. "No way, man, no way. YOU should shut up..." Zach stumbled to the bed. "You fuckin' fairy..."

Brian watch, amused, as Zach fell face first on the bed, and almost immediately started snoring. Brian looked at him, before shaking his head and leaving the room.

"Geez Zach, your gonna kill yourself one of these days." Brian said to himself, smiling.

A loud banging drew Brian's attention towards the staircase. Zach's best friend cocked his head towards the railings, where a red smudge was. Feeling a bit suspicious, Brian went back into the sleeping Zach's room, and got a metal baseball bat from the cupboard.

The baseball bat was one of Zach's favourites when he played softball when they were younger.

'_Guess he still holds onto his memories, the fuckin' stoner.' _Brian thought to himself, smiling. Unlike Zach, Brian was 'Straight-Edge' per say. No alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes entered his system, and was damn proud of it. Brian tested the weight of the bat, and nodded. '_Yeah, nice weight. Good for- _

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Brian snapped his head up, and glanced over to Zach, who was still sleeping like a log. '_Get through anything you can, mate.'_

Brian left the door open and made his way to the stairs, seeing something which shocked him to the core.

A red stain, trailing down the stairs, and a handprint.

"What the fuck..." Brian muttered, going down the stairs. No-one was seen, while the stain trailed into the living room. "Guys?"

No response.

Brian shook his head, and went over to the door. It was shut.

"Odd..." Brian muttered. '_One minute theres a party going on, and now nothing?'_

Brian grasped the doorknob, pulled and was suddenly pounced on.

Acting instinctively, Brian grabbed the arm reaching for him, used the momentum, and slammed the figure hard to the floor.

"Fuck man, fuck, lay off, man!" The general joker, James, cried out, holding his back.

Laughs suddenly filled the air, and Brian looked into the living room to see everyone in the party clumped together. How they all fit was beyond him though, let alone be quiet.

"Ha fuckin' ha." Brian said, shaking his head. "Almost got me there."

A moan filled the air, and Brian glanced back to James, who was writhing on the floor. "Don't complain if I don't think when someone throws himself at me."

The place grew more loud now, with people chattering and pushing to get out of the room.

Brian offered a hand to James, and helped the joker up.

"Thanks, man." James said, smiling his gratitude. "Note to self: Do not attempt to make a practical joke of Brian fuckin' Christy. You ment-

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The house became silent again, as they looked to the door, kinda freaked out.

"What you all freakin' out about?" James asked, rubbing his back. "Just another practical joker." James sauntered up to the door, and grinned to himself. He grabbed the doorknob, pulled it open, and suddenly screamed higher than anyone could of guessed as a pair of teeth clamped down on his neck, causing blood to fall in a heavy stream.

For a few moments, everyone stared in shock at the creatures in the doorway, grey skinned and blood stained.

As they burst through the door, snarling and hissing, the screams started as the creatures descended upon the party group.

**LINE BREAK **

Zach turned in his bed, putting the pillow against his head to dull out the sound. It didn't stop.

Zach threw the pillow at the wall and stood up suddenly. "WILL YOU SHUT THE SCREAMING FUCK UP!" He yelled as loud as he could. Zach than staggered and held his head, feeling sick. "Let's not stand up when drunk and high..."

The screaming continued, and Zach stormed over to the door and opened it, when a dozen of the creatures burst.

Thoroughly confused, and rather off his head, Zach smiled and extended his hands in welcome. "Hey, welcome to the Wilde Party!"

But then Zach was thrown to the floor, getting kicked, scraped, and otherwise beaten the crap out of.

Disorientated and not knowing what the hell was going on, Zach did what was in his instinct and curled into a foetal position. A sudden pain through his shoulder caused him to scream out loud and move from his defensive position, staring at the clear bite mark through his shirt, and in turn at the grey, lifeless eyes of the creature that now had a chunk of Zach's flesh hanging out his mouth. "GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!"

The loud noise drew the creature's attention towards the doorway, where one had its head splattered against the wall as Brian swung the baseball bat which would have scored a home run or two. Brian didn't stop and swung the bat like a madman, dispatching of the creatures with vicious shots to the head. When they were all down, Brian stared behind him, where lots more snarling was heard.

"Fucking..." Brian cursed, before grabbing an already pale Zach over his shoulder. "Zach, sorry about this mate."

Just as more creatures burst in the doorway, Brian smashed the window with his shoulder, and jumped straight out. Keep Zach above him, Brain landed harshly in the bushes, and breathed heavily.

Sensing nothing was injured, Brian stood up and looked over Zach. No visible injuries. "Good enough." Brian said, before hosting Zach up on his shoulders, and running as fast as was possible with the dead weight of Zach. When not high or drunk, Zach was a fitness freak, and loved to work out to impress the ladies.

This didn't help Brian, but he grit his teeth and ran away from the creatures, which started running after him.

Not knowing what was happening, and not particularly caring at this moment, Brian hefted Zach more comfortably on his shoulders, and headed towards the city. Even though shocked, Brian figured it would be best to find somewhere safe to hole up, and damn him if he would let himself or Zach get killed by whatever those things were.

"Always giving me trouble, eh Zach." Brian said to himself, grinning, trying to remain optimistic, before melding into the darkness.


	3. Four Months

**(Thanks to stealthhunter112, AlexTheMortal, and Kara Medyx for your reviews! I've decided to create a fictional city initially, because I don't know American cities enough to base it in one. So sue me lol. Well, anywho, let's get on shall we?)**

Brian breathed heavily, his pistol out in front of him.

"Come on, come on." Brian whispered to himself, staring at the exit of the alley way. Aterswell city was a city right by the coast, and consisted of three 'layers' so to speak. The outer layer of the city was the urban area, where most of the single houses, gyms, and some of the higher quality restaurants were. The area Brian was in right now was the city area, which contains the sky scrapers, hospitals, dark alleys, flats, and crack dens. Finally, the port area consisted of a lot of warehouses, which stretched out far. Old, rusted boats were constantly docked there, while there was a faint, black, and unhealthy beach just off of the port.

Brian licked his lips, before slowly inching towards the exit, keeping close to the wall, and checking around him in case any of the infected tried to jump him by surprise. Brian looked into the alleyway, and breathed a sigh of relief seeing a thick red metal door. Brian jogged towards it, stroking his longer hair behind his ear. He hit the wall with his back, and carefully looked to see if any infected were coming, before opening it. The loud squeal caused to twenty year old to wince, but as soon as the gap was big enough he dodged in and barred it.

Brian let out a breath, feeling safe, at least for now. He surveyed the safe room.

It was probably an old dealer's house, judging by a large pile of needles in the corner. Thankfully, someone had cleaned them out of the way before he got there. Brian looked over to the dilapidated couch with a bit of disgust. All sorts of stains were on there, and the springs stuck from the leather. But quickly his attention was drawn towards a wooden table, where Brian actually grinned.

The table was loaded with everything he'd need. First Aid kits, ammo for a variety of weapons, a pistol, a submachine gun and... Brian grinned even more, grabbing the pump shotgun where it leant against the wall.

"Hell yeah..." Brian muttered to himself, checking the shells inside and seeing it was loaded. Brian also grabbed two boxes of shotgun shells, a spare clip of pistol ammo, and a first aid kit. He placed the first aid kit on his hip, while he put the ammo in an old bag he had on his back. The bag was an old school one, which Brian had stolen from a house after he had lost the infected four months ago. Also inside the bag was a couple of bags of crisps, a large bottle of water, although it was almost empty, and one grenade, which nestled in the corner.

A loud banging snapped Brian's attention to the door, before he heard a number of curses.

"Fuckin' Brian let me in right now!"

Brian walked over to the door, and went to open it when he heard a number of snarls, and a very loud 'Fuck'. "Sorry, I'll let you in when you take them down."

"Fuck you, Brian, why don't you?"

"Because I am not immune." Brian said simply. "I'd rather not get bitten and take the chance of turning into one of them completely." Brian sensed a middle finger was being shot up at him from behind the door, but he just pulled a wooden chair up from the table, and sat down, reloading his pistol ammo.

A number of shrieks, crunches, and splashes were heard, including a rather loud crashing sound. Finally, everything went quiet.

"You gonna let me in now or what?"

Brian dropped the pistol on the table, and this time actually opened the door, allowing for a large figure to squeeze himself through, before plopping down on the sofa, which promptly sagged all the way to the floor. "Zach, can I remind you not to draw attention to us."

"Well, with this figure I can hardly be 'quiet' now, can I?" Zach said, motioning to his large frame. For anyone other than Brian, they would have screamed, run away, or shot at him with all they had. But Brian knew better. Zach had grown taller, roughly two heads taller, and much wider, almost double the side. His arms had grown to an inhuman size, although they were still manageable and the skin, while stretched, wasn't broke. His hair was short, and his jaw thick. Zach leant back slightly on the already broken sofa, and yawned.

"I guess not." Brian huffed, sitting back down on the wooden chair.

"Why do we gotta keep moving? Why can't we just stay in one place?"

"Because, genius, you ruined our previous safe place. We managed to stay there for a while, but no, Mr half tank decides he wants to wrestle another tank and draws a loud crowd of snarling, hissing, Infected. Thank you, Zach, thank you." Brian clapped sarcastically, and flicked his hair back.

"But it's been a week. I can't keep moving like this." Zach moaned.

"If you can't, just stay here and I'll go without you."

"I'm not going to leave you, Brian." Zach said, turning serious. "You saved my life. I ain't gonna let a human like you run into a crowd of zombies with no hope in hell of surviving."

"They aren't zombies, Zach, how many times to I have to tell you." Brian sighed. "They are human beings, just without the use of their brains, plus with some weird mutation gene. They are barely alive, but they haven't died, so they aren't zombies. Stop confusing this situation with all those cheap zombie movies you watch."

"Hey, Dawn of the Dead isn't cheap, it's vintage." Zach crossed his arms with a bit of difficulty, and glared down at his best friend.

Brian shrugged nonchalantly, before seeing a bit of red fall down Zach's arm.

"Hey, you're bleeding."

Zach glanced at his muscled arm, where a scratch was on his shoulder. "Eh, not that bad. Those non-zombie zombies scratch like a mother."

"That's also proof they aren't zombies." Brian said, going over to a set of drawers and looking through them.

"Hm?"

"Well, in practically every zombie movie, they rip people to shreds and eat them. Hell, even Shaun of the Dead had that, and that's a comedy movie. But these 'infected', they don't eat anyone. They only bite by accident, as much as I can figure, and they punch and kick. Not usual for your run of the mill zombies."

Zach nodded. "True, I guess. So..."

"So...?" Brian repeated, looking up at his friend.

"So, what now? Do we have any plan, or do we just go from safe house to safe house?" Zach asked.

"Why're you asking me?"

"Because you seem to be the leader." Zach smiled sloppily.

"True. You couldn't lead anything." Brian grinned and smacked Zach on the arm. "I'd say we head to the docks, hope theres a boat which hasn't been destroyed, and get to another country. England seems isolated, so I reckon there isn't any infected there."

"You got a plan B in case there isn't a boat?"

"Get somewhere cold, somewhere where a virus can't operate." Brian replied, checking his pistol.

"Okay..." Zach seemed reclined, and he stood up, the couch creaking. He started walking towards a wooden door, before stopping and looking back at Brian. "Hey, Brian."

"Yeah?"

"D'ya reckon there are more like me?" Zach asked, tapping his chest. "Like, half-man, half-infected? Because... I really don't want to be the only one."

"I would guess so." Brian said heartily. "It's probably something genetic, and the odds are, someone else has those same genetics. Perhaps you'll find one to keep you company if I go."

"What do you mean?" Zach asked.

"If I die." Brian repeated patiently, causing Zach to stiffen. "After all, I always look realistically. I am not immune, so that means, if I get bitten, I have a very small chance of becoming like you. The whole other chance? I'll turn into an infected and you gotta beat my brains in." Brian shrugged. "But let's not talk about that, yeah? Let's get some rest, and we'll have all of tomorrow to get to the docks."

"Sure thing Brian." Zach nodded, and walked over to a wall, before slouching down it. His body mass acted kind of like a pillow, meaning he could just rest easy.

Brian looked back to his friend, before looking through the door Zach was heading to before, only to discover it was a bathroom. Noticing something on the floor, Brian bent down and picked up a bloody photo, showing a happy couple with a baby in their arms. Brian turned the photo around, and in pen repeating again and again were the words: Die! Die! Die!

"Yeah... this countries gone to shit." Brian muttered, throwing the photo down and looking for somewhere to rest.


	4. Capabilities

**(Thank to Kara Medyx, , AlexTheMortal, and GlassesDude for your reviews! So, this chapter will have my first battle, albeit a short one. I've took some risks in this chapter, so review if you like it, and if not, why? What should I change? I always want to please the reviewers! Read on!) **

"This stuff tastes vile!" Zach spat out the crisps, wiping his mouth. "They must be off."

"No. They're fine." Brian said, checking the expiration date. "Only a couple of days off. Perhaps it's your Infected genes continuing to take over your body."

"Hey, don't joke about that."

"I'm not. I mean, since you changed into that tank you been showing much more ferocious tendencies. You love smashing Infected, you laugh to smash things in general, and you're developing sores." Brian pointed out a harsh red rash down one side of Zach's forehead.

Zach poked it, and winced. "Ouch..."

"It'd be a good idea NOT to poke wounds. I'm not going to bandage it, by the way."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to see if it increases in size, or similar ones develop around it. I need to see the effects, rather than keep it under wraps. I need to know whether you are going to lose your mind and smash me to a pulp."

Zach nodded. "That's fair enough. So, where are we going next? I assume we are moving, because I swear I'm contradicting all sorts of diseases from just looking at the place."

"Ever wanted to gamble?" Brian said with a small smile, pulling his shotgun out.

**LINE BREAK **

"What's this casino called again?" Zach asked down at Brian, who was looking carefully down the street.

"Moonsun Casino. Nice little oxymoron there." Brian said, swinging his shotgun slightly. "It's just a bit off the docks. Should take us twenty minutes at this pace, we rest there, then we take the rest of the day to the docks. Find us a boat, and get the hell outta America."

"Moonsun, eh? Why there?"

"Because the map I found at that house we stayed in for a while had lots of safe houses marked on. I've been meaning to head there, considering the name stuck out at me."

"What do you mean?" Zach asked.

"Well, next to the bright red 'Moonsun Casino' were the words 'destination'. So, I'm hoping we will see fellow survivors."

Zach looked a bit downhearted.

"What's up?"

"It's just that... when they see my like this, they are going to shoot, ask questions later. Even with this skin, bullets will take me down, especially a well targeted one to the face."

"Don't be like that. When they see a human with you, they'll have to stop, at least to ask questions. Don't worry, Zach, it'll be fine."

"Good." Zach stated, before his knee suddenly hit against a faded red car parked on the sidewalk. "Oh..."

The car alarm rung out high and clear, causing Brian to freeze, and turn angrily at Zach. "If I die because of this, I am so haunting you."

The familiar snarling and hissing grew until a horde of Infected burst around the corner. Brian climbed atop of the car so he was harder to get at, and fell to one knee, pumping his shotgun and keeping his finger on the trigger, ready for the Infected. Zach cracked his knuckles, and smiled slightly. He suddenly lurched forward and smashed his fists into a couple of Infected bodies, driving them back. Zach lifted one up, and threw it into the oncoming crowd, who faltered but continued forward.

Brian shook his head slightly, before turning away from Zach and straight into the face of an Infected. Once a young woman, now a ravaging beast. "Sorry love." Brian muttered, before pressed the trigger and shooting the woman straight in the face, which practically exploded in blood and gore. The woman fell back and Brian reloaded, shooting another down. Nails suddenly scraped his back, and Brian turned around, thrusting the shotgun straight in the stomach of an infected, and pulling the trigger. Blood splattered across Brian's face as the Infected fell off the car. They were surrounded on all sides now, and Brian cursed, before taking a quick glance to see how Zach was doing.

Zach was using his large frame to his advantage. He was punching all he could, as well as occasionally throwing an Infected away. Zach grabbed another Infected by the head, and threw him to the side, using him to take down a group of the things. Zach's eyebrows were narrowed in concentration. The last thing he needed was the make a mistake.

'_Come on, Zach'y boy, that's not bloody enough!" _

Without thinking, Zach grabbed an Infected, and held it above his head, before letting off a primal roar and ripping the Infected in half.

'_That's better m'boy, keep it coming!'_

Zach blinked and shook his head, staring at his bloody hands. "What the..."

"CHARGER!" Brian's voice shouted in Zach's head, and he turned around to receive a large shoulder to the chest, driving him backwards, but not off of his feet. Rivalling the Charger in Size, Zach grabbed the Chargers large arm and wrenched it downwards, pulling the Special Infected off of its feet. Zach followed up by cracking it in the jaw, much like he used to do when he did a bit of boxing a year ago. Zach brought his fists up as the Charger lurched forward, trying to punch him.

"Come on big boy, that all you got!" Zach regained his usual joking persona and punched the charger in the gut. The charger roared in frustration and grabbed Zach around the stomach, before trying to lift Zach up. The Charger seemed surprised that it was unable to do it, and Zach punched it in the face, before cracking his skull against the Chargers. It stumbled back, and then half its head exploded in gore and muscle, and Zach turned to Brian, who pumped his shotgun.

"First you wrestle a tank, and now you have a boxing match with a Charger? Get serious damn it!" Brian yelled.

'_Yeah Zach, get serious! Get, dare I say it, Wilde!'_

Zach shook his head, slapping his head. "Stop talking..."

"What?" Brain asked, kicking an Infected off the car. "Who's talking?"

"We're going!" Zach yelled before suddenly grabbing Brian off the top of his car, and hugging him close to his chest before sprinting off, his powerful legs keeping him running without feeling. Unlike other Tanks, Zach could actually support his weight with his legs, and didn't have to walk like a gorilla.

"Zach! Dude, what the hell, get off of me!" Brian shouted, struggling, but was unable to get out of Zach's vast grip.

'_Yes, Zach. Get off of him! Get back to the fight you fuckin' pussy!'_

"SHUT UP!" Zach yelled without thinking, and ran forward even faster, intent of getting away from the horde who had started to following him.

"Zach, geez, your crushing me, let me go! I can run by myself I you got to go that badly."

"No, Brian, you'll just get caught." Zach said, before turning down an alleyway. He continued to run and barraged through a number of Infected waiting at the over end. "In fact, Brian, you got that grenade?"

"In the bag? Sure, but I can't reach it. It's on my back anyway."

"Shit!" Zach cursed, before suddenly having an idea. "Land on your feet!"

"Wha-" Brian didn't have time to question as Zach used all his strength to throw Brian into the air. Brian felt weightless for a moment, before he started falling. But it was short lived, as he landed on a fire escape. He blinked, before seeing a sight which made his eyes go wide. "Zach! I didn't know-"

"Nor did I! Now get to the roof!" Zach shouted from the wall. He was actually climbing up, using his frame to reach windowsill to windowsill.

Brian nodded, and started running up the metal staircase, not caring about the noise he made. The Infected below tried in vain to break through the bottom door, but they couldn't. Brian pumped his arms, his legs starting aching from going up the stair case so fast. "How many floors does to thing have?"

"Nearly there! Look!" Zach nodded upwards, and it was actually one more floor up. Zach reached up and grabbed the rooftop, and grunted, pulling himself up. He nodded to Brian, who got to his side, panting. "Brian, do you trust me?"

Brian raised his eyebrows at the question. "Well, it depends on what you are doi-"

"Good enough for me!" Zach interrupted, before grabbing Brian in a much tighter hold than before, running to the edge of the building, and jumping straight off. Zach looked below him at the street and zombies, before they disappeared by another building across the streets. Zach landed hard on his back, and groaned in pain, but was well enough to get up, hold Brian close again, and running to the other side of the building and jumping down to the street, before carefully opening a door to a building and squeezing in, closing it and locking it.

Brian stumbled from Zach's grasp, looking extremely pale. "That... that felt completely and utterly horrible... What did you... no, in fact, don't tell me... I'm gonna go find somewhere to puke." Brian sauntered off, clutching his mouth, leaving Zach with his thoughts.

'_You wimp, Zach. Guess I'll catch up with you soon.'_

The voice again. Zach punched the wall in fury, willing the voice not to appear again. "What was that..." he mumbled. "My mind... playing tricks on me? That must be it... the stress of this whole thing... getting to me..."


	5. Moonsun Casino

**(Thanks to Apocalypse Survivor and AlexTheMortal for your reviews! I'd thought I'd mention submitted characters will appear in a random order, unless they are specially related to each other. Right, I may have just given you a clue, but read on! **

Moonsun Casino would have once been a grand look, although now it was dull, the lights all out. A large sign at the top of the building said the casino's name, while a few big windows up front showed the inside, which seemed in good condition.

"You know, in this time of strife, things that aren't broken earn my suspicion." Zach said, scratching his head. "Especially big ass windows like those which aren't smashed."

"Agreed." Brian said, his trusty shotgun in front of him, reloaded from the brief fight of the horde earlier in the day. "Well, let's go."

Zach nodded and started walking forward, when he noticed something. "Hey, one moment..."

Brian cocked his head, confused, as Zach jogged over to the side of the building. "God damn!" Zach explained, causing Brian to jog over, and immediately felt like Zach had made another trip across buildings.

A huge pile of infected were next to the building, in various states of decomposition. Apart from the common infected, there were also a few special infected. A Boomer's exploded husk was half rotting in the middle, two hunters, one almost a skeleton, and the other had what looked like half a head. Finally a tank rested on its back, riddled with bullet holes.

Zach saw himself in the tank and felt some kind of rage, before quickly quelling it.

"Man, someone likes to clean up." Brian said, poking the body of the rotted hunter with his shotgun. "This is good news. Means someone is inside the casino, and also that they aren't crazy if they didn't want to look at the bodies."

"Why would they risk being in the open then?" Zach asked, looking at Brian.

"Beats me. Perhaps they are cocky bastards. Well, let's see if we can meet them." Brian turned away and led the way to the glass doors, and opened it smoothly, letting Zach in first, before carefully closing it. Already near the entrance a bar could be seen by the wall, while all sorts of gambling tables were around, craps, poker, roulette, every kind of casino game you could hope for. The paint scheme was a dark blue outlined with dark gold, making it look much creepier than it actually was. Also outlining the walls were plush dark blue seats, with tables in the middle of them.

However, along with the neat permanent lay out, glasses were tipped over on tables, while ominous blood stains covered bits of the floor. Brian narrowed his eyes and saw bullet holes in a few of the walls, as well as what looked suspiciously like a chainsaw rip in one of the seats.

"Man..." Zach muttered. "I would have loved to come here when it was fully operating. Damn zombie apocalypses' always ruin everything."

"They aren't zombies." Brian muttered back, shaking his head.

A sudden clatter drew both of their attentions to the bar. Brian slowly walked towards it, pumping his shotgun.

"Who's there!" Zach loudly exclaimed, causing him to get a glare from Brian.

"Shut up!" Brian hissed, before moving over to the bar. Zach also quietly made his way by it, getting the message, and leant over the bar to look down.

A hacking sound was heard, before something bright and green hit Zach in the face.

"Fucking fuck!" Zach shouted in pain, clutching his face as a hissing sound was heard from the liquid. Brian looked at him, shocked, before something caught in the side of his eye. Brian turned around and saw a figure go through one of the back doors

"Zach, stay here!" Brian exclaimed, before taking off. Quickly he got to the door the shadow went through and kicked it open, catching the shadow at the top of the stairs, looking down, before disappearing. Brian cursed and spun around the banister, climbing the stairs two at a time, he reached the top and saw a door close at the end of a corridor. Brian ran to it and kicked it open, before spotting what looked like an open mouth. A hacking noise was heard and Brian had the sense to duck and cover, the liquid going over his head, and hitting the floor with a sizzling sound. "Shit! Spitter's now run?" Brian turned back to the doorway and saw a leg disappear above an open window.

Brian ran over and quickly looked up, and saw the figure going up a fire escape. Brian climbed out of the window and ran up the stairs, the metal clanging under his feet. He reached the top and saw the figure open a door to a small building on top of the roof. Another fire escape. Brian cursed again and ran to it, opening the door and running down the set of stairs and through another corridor. He turned at the end and booted a door out of his way, and was in what looked like an office. A figure was huddled down in the corner, making whimpering noises.

Brian approached it, his shotgun aimed to blow its head off when something tackled him from behind, driving him hard to the floor. Keeping hold of his shotgun, Brian turned around and smacked a figure in the head. It stumbled backwards, and Brian pointed the shotgun at it, but acid suddenly hit the barrel of the shotgun, melting it into a mulch of metal. Brian looked at in surprise before he was kicked in the face. Brian stumbled backwards, and saw a pair of blue eyes before a hand grabbed him by hair and slammed his face down on the table. Brian gasped in pain before he was backwards into the wall.

The figure ran towards him, but Brian ducked under, exacting a perfect roll, coming up to one knee and pointing the pistol at the figure, which froze. Brian glanced back at what he suspected was the Spitter in the corner, but that distraction cost him. When he looked back the pistol was kicked out of his hands, and he was tackled in his stomach. Brian was pushed backwards to the window, where a hand grasped his face and pushed backwards. Hard.

The window shattered into pieces as the back of Brian's hard was smashed into the glass. Brian groaned slightly and kicked at the figure, but instead it grabbed Brian's shoulders, and ran with him in a circle before letting go. Momentum caught Brian and he tripped and went straight out of the window.

The figure that fought him panted, and looked over to the female in the corner. "You all right?" The voice was male.

The female nodded, before a sudden crash was heard. Both figures turned towards the wall, which had been smashed open, and a tank crawled in, or more specifically, Zach. In one arm was Brian, while one eye was closed. He glared at both figures. "What the fuck are you doing? He's human damnit!"

"You can talk!" The male figure exclaimed standing backwards and looking up at Zach.

"Why? You got a problem? Gonna... shoot... oh my god..." Zach took a closer look at the male figure. His blue eyes looked out from underneath a red and black baseball cap, which was turned backwards. Brown hair came out of the sides, just reached the collar of a red button up short sleeve shirt. He also wore black jeans and shoes, which had been busted open, showing dirty feet. But what Zach was surprised to see were the cavities on his mouth, the sores on his arms, which led to his hands, which held pointed and long fingers.

"Y-You're..." Zach quickly looked the woman in the corner, who was young, yet older than Zach. She had a slightly longer neck than a normal human, short cropped blonde hair, a small black shirt, and jeans full of holes. Her right foot was bare, while her left had a sandal. She wore a gold earring, and also silver bangles on her left arm. But perhaps the most surprising thing was the small scar on her mouth, as well as the eyes. One was a bright piercing blue, while the other one was green with gold specks, and Zach could have sworn it was glowing slightly. "Y-You're... you're... like... like me! You're like me!" Zach smiled broadly as he stared down at the Hunter and the Spitter Half-Infect. "By god you're like me! I'm not alone, I knew it, I knew they'd be others!"

"I can't believe it..." The man rubbed his head. "Another half-Infected? I thought for sure Elena and I were the only ones..." The man's gaze turned to Brian, who Zach had put on the ground. "Oh geez... was he... your friend?"

"Yeah." Zach replied. "His names Brian, and mine's Zach. I don't suppose you know how he fell out of the window?"

"Ah... that was kinda... my fault. Sorry." The man said sheepishly, rubbing his head. "It's just we don't usually get along with humans. But where are my manners, my names Ellis, although just call me Gryphon. My companion is called Elena."

Elena seemed happy seeing someone like her and Gryphon, although she cast suspicious glances at Brian. "S-S-Sorry about... getting you in the face with the acid..."

"Don't worry about it." Zach said, shaking his head in wonderment. "This is really... really amazing..."

**(Woo! Our first Half-Infected OC's. They both belong to AlexTheMortal, so thank him for the characters!**


	6. Alliance

**(Thanks to AlexTheMortal and Kara Medyx for your reviews! Right, a talk-y chapter. Read on! **

The room was quiet. Zach now sported a bandage over one eye, while Brian was still picking small shards of glass out of his skin. Both Gryphon and Elena were surveying the half-tank with interest.

"So..." Zach said, trying to make conversation. "Nice place you got here." He motioned with his hands around the general building.

"Was my dad's." Gryphon said. "The old man fought for his life. Too bad he didn't have much left in him."

"Your dad died then?" Brian asked quietly.

"Yes. I wasn't around to help, because I got infected the day before. Started transforming, dad wanted to shoot me. Understandable, really. I came back two days later, found him dead along with a Tank and two Hunters."

"One guy taking down two Hunters AND a Tank?" Zach raised his eyebrows. "Woah, your dad must've been quite a guy."

"I assume it was you two who cleaned up then?" Brian asked.

"Yeah. Took us a whole day. We got rid of the bodies, then buried my dad. We even positioned tables and chairs the way they were. I'm just glad the windows didn't smash, because they just add to the beauty of this place."

"So, how long have you been here then?" Zach questioned.

"Around two months, give or take a few days. This place is very good if you know where you're going. I think Elena proved that to you, Brian." Gryphon smiled slightly, causing Brian to roll his eyes.

"I'm sorry if someone spat acid on my friend." Brian said jokingly. "But it's fine, well, according to him, anyway. I got a question though, you two aren't related, are you?"

"Nope." Gryphon replied.

"Then, how'd you two meet?" Brian asked, leaning back slightly on his chair.

"Well..." Gryphon cast a glance at Elena, whose face had turned blank. "I was eating a dog."

"A dog?" Zach replied, disgusted.

"Yeah. Hey, I was hungry, and it was either a dog or a human. And trust me, I'm not going to do what those zombies do."

"They aren't zombies, they are infected humans. Plus, they don't eat flesh." Brian pointed out. "Apart from the bites. Anyhow, go on."

"Yeah, so I was eating a dog. I spot something out of the corner of my eye, and I spot Elena, bloody and covered in bites. To be honest, I'd thought she was about to die, and was ready to calm her on her way." Gryphon smiled warmly at Elena. "At least, that's what I thought. I watched as Elena transformed, and I realised that she was like me, a half-infected. But I also realised that I wouldn't be able to let her go. She'd get attacked by Infected, or worse, humans."

"Humans?" Brian repeated slowly.

"Unfortunately , yes. Not all of them are as nice as you, Brian. They just think we're advanced infected, capable of speech and trying to trick them. They just shoot at us. That's why Elena is a bit suspicious about you Brian." Gryphon continued.

"Don't worry, I understand." Brian said, smiling. "To be honest, I'd be happy to work with someone who can melt guns with their spit. Although I did like that shotgun."

"W-Work... with?" Elena repeated timidly, Gryphon also looked up.

"What are you saying?" The half-Hunter asked.

Zach grinned. "Well, we got a plan to escape, you know."

"Escape?"

"America. The Infection. Find a new place to live."

Gryphon raised an eyebrow, before bursting out laughing.

"Hey... what... why are you laughing?" Zach asked, furrowing his eyebrows, confused.

"Ooh... sorry... sorry..." Gryphon wiped his shadowed eyes. "Brian could get away with it sure, but us three? Not a fucking chance. While Elena and I look humanoid, we still have rashes and pale skin. They'd assume we were infected and shoot us on site. And you, a tank? They'll shoot you before you even make it to talk to them. We aren't gonna get away from America."

"What, and wait the infection out?" Zach snapped angrily. He didn't like his plans being logical undermined. "Well then, according to your theory, we'd still be killed. We'd have no hope to live and just might as well shoot ourselves right now, save us the trouble!"

"Hey, don't say it like that." Gryphon replied, crossing his arms.

"Well, I'm sorry if you want to be a pessimistic bastard!" Zach exclaimed.

Gryphon's mouth turned into a frown. "I'm not pessimistic, and realistic. I watched my dad die, y'know. I have had way too much tragedy to just look ahead and go: Oh look, it'll all be fine if we just get away from America. Well, here's a bit of news for you Zach, what says there isn't infection in England? Europe? The Caribbean? For all we know, survivors escaped on boats like you are planning, but they contracted the infection on board. They transferred it the country. Bang! That countries just like America! You need to think realistically, and you need to think ahead, not current."

Zach glared at Gryphon, who equally glared back.

"Zach, stop being an asshole." Brian said, kicking Zach in the ankle.

"Ellis... please..." Elena said quietly, tugging on Gryphon's arm.

Zach huffed and leant back, crossing his arms, while Gryphon blinked and smiled warmly back at Elena. "Sorry about that..."

Brian stood up, and double checked his pistol's safety. Three sets of eyes followed him. "So, question is, will you two come with us? We're still going to go ahead to check it out. If we are not wanted, we'll figure it out."

Gryphon and Elena exchanged glances.

"Come on." Brian said, smiling. "You two would be good with us. After all, Elena, after a few acid spits to the face, you'll be able to take down a tank, just one was enough to nearly take out Zach's eyesight. And Gryphon, you proved you can fight hand to hand with someone with a gun, and working together, you made a complete fool outta me. That would contrast well with Zach and me. Zach's a brute, doesn't think about it, just acts. I'll have to tell you time he had a wrestling match with another Tank sometime. And I'm a shooter, I'll be able to handle machine guns and the like if I get hold of one."

"The Brute, the Fighter, the Gunner and the Tank Take-Downer! Sounds good to me." Zach said enthusiastically, his argument with Gryphon apparently forgotten.

"Tank... Take-Downer?" Elena repeated.

"Well... I could not think of a title for the life of me. I didn't want to say Spitter because I doubt you'd want to embrace your infection."

Elena smiled properly for the first time at Zach. "I like Tank Take-Downer." Elena turned back to Gryphon. "In fact, I like Zach. He seems like a fun guy to be around. I say Gryphon we actually do something, other than stay in this Casino."

Gryphon sighed, and smiled. "I'll do whatever you want, Elena."

"So? Is that an alliance?" Brian asked, putting out his hand.

"For sure." Gryphon said, putting his hand on top of Brian's.

Elena nodded, and put her hand atop of Gryphon's.

"Hell yeah!" Zach exclaimed, throwing his hand down. The other three had the sense to move their arms before they were broken from Zach's arm. "We are like a ninja ass kickin' team!"

"Sure..." Brian shook his head. "But, I say we should spend a night here, get to know each other, all our strengths, all our weaknesses. Figure out who would be best to take down say a smoker, and who would fail miserably against a tank, okay?"

"That's fine with me." Gryphon said, cracking his neck.


	7. Contrasting Lifestyles

(**Thanks to Kara Medyx and AlexTheMortal for your reviews! Keep em coming, and also, read on!) **

Zach let out a deep yawn, blinking slightly. Last night had all been talking, and if he was honest, Zach had completely zoned out and got bored. He hefted his large frame off one of the sofas he had been designated, and let out another yawn. Zach looked for Brian, who was meant to be sleeping in the opposite sofa, but he wasn't there. Zach padded over to the window, seeing it was quite light.

'_Must be around ten o'clock'_ Zach thought to himself, before grabbing his discarded trousers and pulling them on. Unfortunately, there were no upper body clothes which would fit around his chest, so he had to leave it bare. But the thickness of muscle for more than enough to keep him from freezing to death.

A knock on the door caused Zach to look up. "Uh... come in."

The door opened, and Elena walked slightly into the room, a plastic bag in her hands. "Y-your awake, that's good. Um... Brian got these for you." Zach walked forward and grabbed the plastic bag, peering in. Inside were a couple of pairs of trousers, as well as new shoes. Zach grabbed the shoes, and sat back on the sofa, pulling them in. Thankfully his feet hadn't grown all that much, so the shoes fitted snugly.

"Man, it's good to wear something on the feet." Zach said, sighing, before noticing Elena was still standing in the doorway, slightly awkwardly. "So, are you ready to go?"

Elena nodded. "I-I haven't really... got anything to take..." Elena suddenly looked up and connected with Zach's eyes. "You know, I should be afraid of you."

Zach found himself captured by Elena's eyes and merely let his jaw drop dumbly in reply.

"I mean... I watched my friend killed by a tank..." Elena said quickly, before shaking slightly. "Um, sorry, I didn't mean..."

"What? Hey, it's fine." Zach said, crouching down so he was the same height as Elena. "Do you want to talk about that friend? I don't mind either way."

"I... I don't think I know you enough... to... uh, I got to go... I think I hear Gryphon calling me." Elena quickly moved from the doorway, leaving Zach looking after her, confused.

XXX

"Now this is a stockpile." Brian said, looking at the weapons on the table in front of him. Gryphon and Brian had made their way to the basement, which was the safe house indicated on the map. Brian didn't need any more pistol ammo, but he grabbed another pistol, just to be safe.

"Why don't you get that submachine gun?" Gryphon asked. He had taken two of the first aid kits, one for himself, and one for Elena.

"Don't particularly like it." Brian said, shrugging. "I don't mind normal machine guns, but small ones are just annoying. I tend to stick with pistols, or if I find any, shotguns. Unfortunately, one I found got melted into a gloop." Brian let of a small laugh. "Just my luck."

"Elena didn't mean it." Gryphon said, frowning.

"Oh, I know that." Brian said, turning to Gryphon. "It's just; my luck's been rotten lately.

"How so? You are alive, right?"

"True, at least I got that. And I managed to save Zach without getting bitten, but other than that, yeah, bad luck. Hey... can I let you in on a secret?"

Gryphon looked bemused. "Sure. After all, we're friends now."

Brian lifted his shirt, and Gryphon gasped slightly. There was a gouge in Brian's waist, approximately the size of a small plate.

"Where did you get that?"

"When Zach and I weren't moving, I had taken to exploring the surrounding areas, just in case there was anything helpful. I did it when Zach was sleeping, after all, I can't have him worrying about me. But one day, I heard this crying sound."

Gryphon frowned, realising where it was going.

"At that time, I thought it was a small girl, lost her parents or something. Well anyway, I looked through a house – a couple of blocks away from Zach thankfully – and finally came to a cupboard. Opening it, I saw a hunched girl in the corner. I'm just a general sympathetic person, so I touched her shoulder, asking her if she was okay. Then, I get my first experience with a Witch."

"So she cut your waist?" Gryphon asked.

"Nah, this wasn't for her. She didn't injure me particularly, about from minor scratches. She jumped on me, and because of my luck, I smashed through the window. The sound was enough to attract a number of Infected. Not a horde, mind you, but enough. I barely got away. This is proof of that. Just before I got up, I got bitten by one of the freaks right here." Brian pointed at the wound grimly. "Bleeding quite badly, and realising I was likely going to die, I didn't give up. I managed to run back to the house Zach and I were staying in without getting followed. I found a kitchen knife, and I had to cut a chunk outta a mean. I mean, it was life or death situation, y'know. I still had fears that the infection had already got into other parts of my body, but I was spared."

Gryphon adjusted his cap and looked in awe. "That must've taken a lot of guts, man. But... why are you telling me that?"

Brian let his shirt drop. "I'm not sure, really. It's just, every now and again, I wonder, why am I with Zach? Not just for this Infection, but since we met in high school. He is everything I'm not. A smoker. An alcoholic. A minor drug user. He's been arrested two times, one for possession and the other for stealing. He lost his virginity – somewhat unwillingly – at sixteen to a hooker. And then theres me. I admire myself for being 'straight-edge', and my body is healthy. I've never touched a drink, cigarette, or drugs.

"Funny thing is, he accidently kept me to my lifestyle. Peer pressure is a hell of a thing, and I was invited to a party with a couple of older boys. My mother forced me to go. Well, I was unpopular, in a party by a corner, keeping myself there, willing it to be over. Next thing I know, I'm grabbed by a couple of boys and they try to force me to drink some of the beer. They almost did, but then the unlike saviour in Zach Wilde burst through the door, completely and utterly pissed, and caused enough of a distraction for me to slip and run out. The next day, I thanked him, although he had no idea why, and we became friends. I became more popular, but strictly keeping to my lifestyle..." Brian suddenly shook his head. "Geez, listen to me ramble on like an old man, telling you my life story."

"It's fine." Gryphon said, smiling. "It's good to let off some memories you know. Keeping them all holed up is bad, as they often come up in the worst situations."

"I guess." Brain zipped his backpack up containing a couple more pistol rounds for the new pistol, and placing it on his back. "Do a guy a favour, though. Don't tell Zach about this conversation. I don't want the big guy worrying."

"Sure thing." Gryphon nodded. "Well then, we should go. You said we should leave before 12, and there is no time like the present."


	8. Port Royale

**(Thanks to Kara Medyx, , stealthhunter112, and GlassesDude for your reviews! This is mostly a fight chapter, and I wonder how it turned out. If it doesn't work out, I'm always open to tips on how I can make it better! Read on!) **

"So... Brian... I don't suppose you have any ideas?" Gryphon whispered, staring down the wall. Next to him, Elena stood shaking slightly.

"I-I'm not the leader here..." Brian muttered quietly, also looking down.

"The decision is simple!" Zach proclaimed loudly, causing all three allies to wince and glare at him. "You just gotta run through 'em!" Zach hopped straight over the wall, causing Brian to groan and hold face.

"He... is... such an idiot!" Brian snapped, pulling out both pistols.

"Guess we got no choice now." Gryphon said, moving his hat backwards.

"I-Is he usually this...stupid?" Elena asked.

All three stared down as Zach landed in the multitude of Infected. The group had gotten to the Ports after half a day walking, without much event. However, it seemed that all the Infected had decided to stay at the port. They sat, fought slightly with each other, which just generally milled about on the dirty grey beach. Some walked back and forth on the ruined piers, while a number were on the boats. One such boat had gotten the groups attention, as it looked like it worked. They were wondering how to get past quietly when Zach had jumped down the wall.

When he landed, Zach looked up and saw all the Infected had looked straight at him. "Bring it!" Zach shouted, and started to use his frame to pulverize Infected bodies, blood splashing to and fro. His massive fists were enough to destroy the heads, and indeed the brains, and Zach used this to his full advantage. He grabbed an Infected and smashed it against the wall which he had jumped down, before throwing it high in the air, where it writhed like a ragdoll before it's back connected with a stone which jutted out from the beach.

Digging his heels into the beach, Zach bent down and grabbed an Infected legs, and then using it to take down a group of Infected.

Gryphon watched as Brian and Elena made their way down the stairs to get to the beach, and then took a deep breath. He was standing on the edge of the wall, and he bent his legs slightly. With a brief push, the Hunter Infected in him drove him high into the air. Gryphon positioned himself so he would land safely, before a sudden weight smashed into the side of his in the middle of the air and both figures smashed into the sand.

Gryphon blinked and faced a proper Hunter, its eyes seeming to gleam under its hood. It rained down clawed hands at Gryphon, but he just blocked them and kicked out, before crouching slightly and shooting towards the Hunter, taking him down to the floor. Now on top, Gryphon pounded on the Hunter's face, smashing it to a pulp. The Hunter wasn't used to being on the receiving end of its own attacks, and soon fell.

Gryphon stood up, glancing down at the blood on him in disgust, before a suddenly constriction around his neck caused him to choke. Gryphon glanced down to see the rubbery tongue of a Smoker, and looked behind him to see the Infected on top of a rock, and started to drag Gryphon back. Gryphon tried to dig his heels into the ground, but all that resulted in was making lines in the sand.

Gryphon tugged at the tongue to no avail, before a shot sounded and the tongue slackened. Gryphon collapsed to the ground and quickly realized the tongue had been shot off. He looked to Brian. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Brian pointed the pistol at the smoker, and let off three shots, one of which connected, causing the Smoker to topple off the rock.

"Where's Elena?" Gryphon asked, looking around the beach, which seemed empty, but only because most of the Infected had converged on Zach, who was happily smashing them to a pulp.

"She was right behind..." Brian turned around, and went pale. "Oh no..."

Elena was in a two handed grasp by a Tank, and her legs flailed uselessly in the air. The Tank readied to slam her to the ground.

"Oh no you don't." Gryphon growled, crouching down ever so slightly, and shooting through the air. Elena shrieked as she was thrown towards the ground, but just before she hit, Gryphon caught a hold of her and skidded on his back, Elena safe in his grasp. "Guess these Infections are good for something, huh. Guess you owe me your life now." Gryphon smiled slightly, before Elena suddenly pushed him to the side and rolled away as the Tank's massive fist slammed into the beach where his head was.

"I guess that debts repaid." Elena said jokingly, causing Gryphon to smile.

"Damn. Well, let's take down this tank!" Gryphon leaped forward and straddled the Tank on the head, covering his face. The Tank roared in irritation, and grabbed Gryphon and threw him down on the ground, causing the half-Hunter to groan.

"You are a hunter, not a jockey." Brian said, having gotten back to him. "Here, catch!" Brian threw something through the air, and Gryphon caught it, seeing it was a grenade.

"I have an idea..." Gryphon muttered, before hooking his finger around the pin and pulling it. Gryphon quickly leapt threw the air and straddled the Tank again. "Eat this, freak!" Gryphon thrust the grenade in the Tank's mouth, and jumped out of the way, landing next to Elena, who turned away just as the Tank's head exploded in blood and gore. The now headless body stumbled for a moment, before collapsing on the ground.

"That was definitely Infected Kill of the week." Brian said, grinning.

"Are you sure Zach can handle those zombies?" Elena asked hesitantly.

"They are Infected, but sure, he'll be able... too..." Brian turned away and then shook his head in disbelief.

"RUN! FUCKING RUN FOR THE BOAT!" Zach shouted, running as hard as he could down the beach, trailed by an innumerable amount of Infected.

"I say we listen to him." Gryphon said, before taking off for said boat, dragging Elena. Brian also took off, and the group of four now trailed for a lot of zombies ran towards the boat.

Gryphon grabbed Elena and jumped through the air with his advanced leaping abilities and landed on the deck, punching a stray Infected in the face and knocking him into the water. Elena stood safe on the deck, and Gryphon kneeled down to help Brian up, who was climbing feverishly up the rope ladder. Finally, Zach jumped and latched onto the end of the boat with his hands. It took the combined effort of all three survivors to lift the half-Tank up. They all fell back in a heap as Zach was lifted over the side of the boat, before scrambling.

"One thing..." Zach said, breathing hard. "Can anyone actually drive a boat?"

"I did once, but it wasn't this type." Brian said. "I'll give it a try though." He opened the door, and climbed a set of stairs before coming to the Captain's quarters. Brian looked at the complicated controls, feeling a blank.

"Can you?" Gryphon asked as he came in the room last, closing the door behind him and locking it into place.

"Umm..." Brian stroked his chin. "I... yeah... no."

"Great!" Zach threw his arms in the air and let out a stream of curses. "Now we are trapped in a small ro – What is that!"

Zach pointed out the window in front of Brian, where from the sea was some kind of black thing, thick and slimy, waving about.

"If I didn't know any better..." Brian said, before his eyes widened. "Duck!" Everyone ducked just as the window smashed into tiny little shards as the black thing shot through the window and crashed into the door, knocking it off its hinges. Zach looked at the door in surprise; after all, it was a pretty thick door.

"T-That's... That's a..." Brian said faintly, as the thing smashed back out, taking half the control panel with it. "That was a... tentacle! That was a frickin' tentacle!"

"Oh, you have got to be..." Zach slammed his fist into the wall. "Are you telling me we are facing some kind of Octopus Zombie?"

Before anyone could reply, the wall behind Zach was ripped open as if it were paper, and one such tentacle wrapped around his waist. Zach let out a small 'oh' before he was dragged out of the boat as if he were weightless.


	9. Evolution

**(So sorry for the late chapter, but is was not my fault. The internet box stopped working, and we had to order a new one. Right, I introduce a new Infected, which may not be what you think, today! **

Elena, Gryphon and Brian looked out in surprise as Zach was whipped out of the cabin. Brian was first to react, and he shrugged off his shirt and shoes and ran to the hole. But something caught his arm and he turned to see Gryphon holding him.

"Don't be an idiot, Brian. That water would be freezing, it'll kill you."

"Well, I'm not gonna let Zach just get... get whatever by the thing." Brian snapped.

Gryphon sighed. "Well then, you better survive, because if not, you led Elena and me to a death-trap with Infected."

"I'm sure you'll be able to fight them off." Brian said smiling as Gryphon let go. "'The things I do for that guy' huh." Brian then turned and dived expertly off the boat.

He fell for about fifteen feet before splashing in the water. The water was freezing, and Brian's body involuntarily shook from the cold. But he continued down, forcing himself to open his eyes. But the water was murky, and he could only see a few feet in front of him.

Brian swam down, expecting at any moment to see a huge creature that had already feasted on Zach. As it was near the dock, Brian's hands touched sand, and he scrambled upright in the water, squinting as a shadow neared him. Fast.

He didn't even have time to open his mouth before the great force slammed straight into his chest.

**XXX**

Gryphon and Elena backed away, so there backs hit the consoles and they had nowhere to go. They could hear the metallic footsteps of the Infected as they approached, and because the door had been smashed open, it didn't help them one bit.

"I don't want to die..." Elena muttered to herself.

"You won't." Gryphon said, glancing to the floor. "Hey, try spitting on the floor."

Elena complied, and hacked up a cough, with the green acid shooting from her mouth and hitting the floor. With a sizzling sound, the metal floor bubbled and melted. It took a few seconds, and Gryphon quickly pushed Elena down the now human sized hole. Waiting one second, Gryphon jumped down just as an Infected hand whipped over his head.

With his powerful legs, Gryphon landed safely, and checked on Elena. "You okay?"

Elena nodded, and Gryphon grabbed her wrist and made his way through the cramped room they had fell in. He suspected it was a storage space, judging by the metal containers. He opened a large metal door just as one of the Infected dropped through the hole Elena made. He rushed Elena through, before stepping into the next room himself. Gryphon waited a moment, before slamming the door straight into the face of the Infected, which let of a satisfying crack. He turned around, and saw they were in a kitchen of sorts. Old rusted pots and pans hung on hooks, plates still stacked neatly on table tops, and overall the metal seemed polished and perfect.

"D-Do you think the doors will hold?" Elena asked.

"They'll have too." Gryphon said, before the floor exploded in metal shrapnel and water. Acting instinctively, Gryphon jumped to Elena and grabbed her, landing easily and placing her down. Both half-Infected looked to the hole in the bottom of the ship, and saw a similar 'tentacle' or whatever the hell it was sticking out. It seemed to be a bit slimmer though. "Oh hell..." Gryphon murmured to himself, before two large, meaty hands grabbed the edge of the hole, and pulled it up.

Elena's eyes widened in fear, while Gryphon's jaw dropped. The creature in front of them was about as big as a tank, and proportioned so as well, except it had bulkier legs and was standing up right. It appeared to be wearing some kind of diving suit, and the oxygen tank looked intact, with the pipes going straight into the skin, as if it merged over it. The faint remains of the mask could be seen on the face of the creature. But most disturbing was the fact a giant, black tongue lolled out of its neck, hitting the floor with a slimy thud. Another came out from its wrist, wrapped like a snake on the floor.

"Is that a female?" Gryphon asked to no-one in particular, staring at the stringy brown hair and the slight bulging chest area.

"I-I don't think... t-that's a main concern..." Elena said, looking at the creature.

"True." Gryphon replied, before the creature let out a strangled cry and whipped its hand-tongue at them, which sliced a deep gouge in the wall when they ducked. "This... is going to take a bit of thinking..."

**XXX**

Brian groaned, feeling an intense pressure on his chest, and when he opened his eyes, he could just see black. All of a sudden, the pressure left, and Brian's sight cleared to see a mutated face glinting at him. Initially, Brian jumped back, thinking it was a Tank, but then realized it was Zach.

"Zach, thank god." Brian breathed, before noticing a large gash from hip to hip. "Shit, you all right?"

"I'm fine." Zach said. "How about you? It's not every day you get crushed by a half-tank."

"Likely fractured a few ribs." Brian said, wincing as he touched the side of his chest. "Any idea on what the thing was."

"Why don't you ask it yourself?" Zach murmured, and Brian's head snapped towards the surf, where a creature seemed to walk out of it. "Woah... that's some seriously boss-fight like cut scene there..."

"This is NOT a game, Zach." Brian snapped. "But... what the hell IS that?"

"I'm going to say a Tank/Smoker/Diver hybrid." Zach said, staring at the creature.

"That just makes me feel a WHOLE of a lot better." Brian said. "I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

But before the last word made it out of his mouth, Zach was running straight at the creature, letting out a shout.

**XXX**

Gryphon was slammed against the hard wall once again, causing Elena to wince. Gryphon groaned and picked himself up. "Direct approach is definitely a bad idea..." Gryphon just managed to duck as a tongue cracked against the wall behind him, making a sizable dent. It seemed that the walls protecting from the water were much more stable than the inside walls, which were getting torn to pieces by the creature.

The tongue whipped back and Gryphon rolled under, but was cracked in the chest by the tongue from the hand. He slammed once more back first against the wall. "Damn it! I can't get close!"

The creature growled, and turned away towards Elena. He raised his hand, and the tongue whipped towards her.

"Elena!" Gryphon exclaimed, jumping through the air at a low angle to avoid hitting the roof. He soared through the air and managed to grab the tongue, knocking it away from Elena. Keeping hold, Gryphon searched his body for the power to pull the creature closer, but instead the creature smashed upwards with his tongue, Gryphon connected hard with the ceiling. He fell to the floor, motionless.

Elena let out a cry of dismay, before seeing the tongue flying towards her. Her throat suddenly burned, and she let out a wracking cough, acid flying and connecting with the tongue. The creature let off a howl of pain, and thrashed the tongue which was getting burnt every which way. One hit a dent which was already on the boat, and caused a small trickle of water to come in.

Elena couldn't believe it; after all, it WAS an accident. Elena ran forward as the creature thrashed about and grabbed Gryphon, who was groaning groggily "C'mon Ellis, Come on."

"R-run away... Elena..." Gryphon murmured. "A Smoker's after you..."

Elena cringed inside. It seemed Gryphon was remembering when she was attacked by a Smoker. Out of desperation, she slapped Gryphon in the face.

Gryphon's eyes shot open, and he sat up. "Elena? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Elena said, before there was a sudden torrent of water splashing in the room, which just so happened to be sealed because of the thick metal doors. "Let's go!"

Gryphon scrambled to his feet, which were immediately soaked as the water invaded the kitchen, rising rapidly. He ran after Elena, but suddenly let out a yell as he was grabbed by the ankle and dragged backwards.

Hearing his yell, Elena turned to see Gryphon dangling in the air.

"Help!" Gryphon shouted.

"What should I do?"

"I don't know! Throw something at it! Do something!"

Nodding, Elena grabbed one of the rusted pans and threw it at the creature, but it connected with Gryphon instead.

"Not at me!" Gryphon yelled. "The creature!"

"S-Sorry!" Elena replied, before grabbing another pan and throwing it. This time it connected with the creatures head with a clang, but it didn't phase it. It shot its half dissolved tongue at her, and she just managed to dive out of the way. Getting up, she looked at a table top and saw a set of knifes. Just managing to grab a couple with her hands.

Gryphon's eyes widened. "Woah! Elena, you better hit him!"

Elena hesitated, before grabbing one and throwing it as hard as she could. The moment it left her hand she shut her eyes and waited until a thunk of metal in flesh was heard.

"Fucking Jesus Christ Elena!" Gryphon yelled in anger and pain. "Where the fuck is your aim!

Elena hurriedly looked at Gryphon who now had a knife sticking out of his thigh. "Oh my god! Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Just get on with it!" Gryphon shouted. "I feel like I'm going to faint..."

Elena shakily grabbed another knife, and threw it, and this time it hit the creature straight in the neck, and it let out a hiss, dropping Gryphon. It suddenly charged forward, and Elena jumped out of the way, causing it to rip through a set of tabletops.

The creature turned and locked its squinted eyes with Elena's own mismatched ones. It took a step forward, when Gryphon leaped onto his back. With the knife in his hand, pulled from his leg, he stabbed it into one of the oxygen pipes. The creature gurgled in pain, and Gryphon cut through the final oxygen pipe, and blood seemed to surge from it, as if it were actually connected to the creature as part of its body. The creature stumbled backwards, clutching its throat, unable to take a breath, blood rapidly splashing from its body. It fell backwards with a splash, into the already knee-deep water.

"Gryphon! Are you okay?" Elena exclaimed, running over to the young man, who was clutching his thigh in pain, which was bleeding.

"Well, apart from the fact I had a goddamn knife thrust through my leg, a couple of shots from a mutated tongue, and crashed head first into the ceiling, I'm just fucking dandy!" Gryphon cursed, pushing hard on his wound. "Sorry... I'm just... hurting is all, have you got a first aid pa-"

SMASH!

The exploded as a torrent of water, plus two large bodies, burst through. Elena managed to get Gryphon to the edge of the room, and watched as Zach smashed his large fist into another one of the creature's face, although this one seemed to have a much longer tongue.

"Yeah, punk, how do you like that?" Zach taunted, before head butting the creature. He picked the creature up by what remained of its diving suit, and slammed his knee into its gut, before cracking both hands on the creature's neck, driving it face first in the water. Zach straddled on its back, and ripped out both oxygen pipes, causing blood to splash on his face. The creature writhed and struggled, but Zach kept it remained in the water. With one final lurch, the creature fell dead.

"Man... you had a much easier time that me." Gryphon said weakly.

"Meh, they're just big softi- What the hell happened to you?" Zach exclaimed.

"Knife." Gryphon said, getting quieter. "Yeah... I really need first... aid now... losing a fair...amount of blood..." Gryphon closed his eyes and fell unconscious, blood flowing from his thigh.

**(Yikes! So, how'd you like the new infected? I need a name for it, at the moment I'm kinda hinged on Leviathan, but what do you think? **


	10. Not A Hero

**(Thanks to AlexTheMortal, Kara Medyx, and Apocalypse Survivor for your reviews! So, the Leviathan went then well, that's good. I believe it's time for another person, don't you? **

After the fiasco on the boat, the group had made their way to the nearest safe house, which was in a dilapidated warehouse. Zach lowered Gryphon to the floor, while Brian took out his first aid kit.

Unfortunately, they were unable to patch him up near the boat, as the Infected had swarmed around them, forcing them to run for their lives.

Elena was quiet, sitting on a wooden crate, while Zach groaned, sporting a bruise on his cheek.

Brian unclasped the green first-aid kit and opened it. He had never really needed to see what everything was in there before, but now he smiled. There were bandages, plasters, gauze, and everything which would be useful.

He walked over to Gryphon, who was pale, and used scissors to cut the trouser leg off, although leaving the patch of fabric the knife was in. Brian then looked at Gryphon, who seemed to be sleeping. "Sorry." He muttered, before pulling the knife out.

The pain caused Gryphon to wake up and let out a yell of pain, shooting upwards into sitting position.

"Hey, hey, Gryphon lay back down!" Brian exclaimed, grabbing Gryphon's shoulder. Gryphon took a deep breath.

"Y-yeah... sorry, that... that hurt..." Gryphon nodded weakly and lay back down, his eyes wide open now.

Brian inspected the wound. It was a thin slice, but was causing blood to spurt out more than it had with the knife. Using a cloth, he cleaned the blood off, and quickly put gauze on it, keeping pressure. Then, he got the bandages and wrapped it around Brian's thigh. "Well, that should do for now. We'll have to change it every now and again."

"Will it work?" Gryphon asked, groaning.

"I'm not a doctor. I have no idea." Brian said. "But, we'll wait here until you're better."

"And then onto plan B, right?" Zach spoke up.

"Yup. But we'll talk about that later. It's best to get some sleep now. Everyone. We'll keep watch though, in case another one of those things break in."

Every agreed, after their recent skirmish, they were all exhausted.

When midnight came upon the group, rain was pelting down in an uneven rhythm on top of the warehouse. Small droplets leaked through the roof, letting off a soft _plink-plink_ which intermingled with Zach's deep snores and Gryphons lighter ones.

Fully awake and unable to get to sleep, Elena stared up at the roof. After another half an hour, she stood up slowly, and walked quietly over to Brian, who was sat on a crate staring at the Red Door, although not actually seeing.

Not saying a word, Elena sat next to him.

After a while Brian turned to her. "I thought you didn't like me?"

Elena frowned. "It's not that I don't like you... it's more that I don't trust you."

"Because I'm a human?" Brian guessed.

"Well... yes, I guess. Ellis and I, we've had bad encounters with so called survivors. We were forced on the run, and we couldn't rest much until we went back to the Casino. You would have thought that somewhere in this city there were survivors who would accept as _victims_ not monsters. It's not like Ellis chose to be a Hunter, it's not like I chose to be a Spitter. Why can't people just think and wait, not shoot to kill?"

Brian waited a minute, before looking back at Elena. "I don't see you as a monster. Neither of you."

"Small comfort." Elena muttered.

"What's wrong?" Brian asked, staring at Elena. "It seems you've been down after Gryphon's injury. Elena, it wasn't your fault, you know that, right? He asked you to throw, and you did. So, if it's that which is bugging you, it wasn't your fa-"

"It's not that, Brian." Elena interrupted. "It's the fact of what you will do."

"What I will do?" Brian repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"What will happen if the four of us come to a rescue point? What will happen when they see us, and then they see you? What will happen if you are given the choice to go without us?" Elena's lower lip trembled, but she looked up when Brian stood up.

"Look. I'm no hero. I'm not some kind of protagonist in a novel, I'm not going to make a big decision, and I'm not going to act heroic to save the day. I am a normal man. I am a normal man who respects his friends." Brian glanced down at Elena. "You are my friend. Gryphon is my friend. You don't even need to ask about Zach. You ask me what I will do in that situation. If they didn't accept you for who you are, which is a human, just like me, and then I will turn away their offer? You might think that's noble. Not really. It's me, it's in my personality. I will not abandon my friends in any situation, whatever the offer give me. Be it money, a new life, or the very heavens, If my friends cannot come with me, I deny that offer and spit at their feet." Brian smiled at Elena. "You can trust me, Elena. You can trust me just like you trust Gryphon. I don't want to be your enemy, and I certainly don't want you to think I will throw you away like a piece of trash."

Brian sat back down on the crate and stared at the door, leaving Elena to think to herself.

A cackle broke the silence.

Brian's head snapped towards a set of lockers on the other side of the room, already pulling his pistol out of his waist band. "Stay here." He said, before putting the pistol out in front of him and approaching the lockers. Gryphon and Zach were still fast asleep.

Putting one foot in front of the other, Brian made his way to the lockers, which were a faded blue, and five in a row. Brian grasped the first one, and opened it quickly, preparing to shoot. But the locker was empty.

Brian frowned and stepped to the middle locker, grabbed it, and whipped it open.

Nothing.

Moving towards the last in the row, Brian grasped the handle, but hesitated. Then he whipped it open and-

Nothing.

Brian was sweating slightly now as he went to a locker right of the middle one. He grasped the handle, and threw the door open.

"Woah! Don't shoot, don't shoot!"

Brian stared in surprise at the young man in front of him. The man was hiding his face, but wore a t-shirt with a Resident Evil logo on it, as well as blue jeans and sneakers. His skin was an odd shade for a human.

"Who are you?" Brian demanded.

The man slowly uncovered his hands, revealing a jagged scar across his left eye.

Brian drew in a gasp. That face reminded him a lot of a Jockey. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken... Brian kept his pistol up, and prodded the man in the chest. "You're a half-Infected, aren't you? A Jockey if I had to bet?"

The man stared at Brian, before nodding slowly.

"Well, who would've guessed?" Brian smiled, although he kept he pistol on the man as a precautionary measure. "Come in and you can introduce yourself."


	11. Offer

**(Thanks to Kara Medyx and for your reviews! The new jockey infected belongs to stealthhunter112 by the way. Read on! **

The rain had gotten much heavier, and the flash of lightning lit the man's scarred face up. Brian stood in front of him, while Zach had sat up on the sofa. Elena sat next to Gryphon, helping him into a sitting position.

"I guess we'll start with your name." Brian said, the pistol now in his pocket.

The man didn't reply. The group of four waited for a minute, but still no answer.

"Who are you?" Brian asked again. "It's no good being quiet."

The man mumbled something.

"Pardon?"

"Jayce." The man said slightly louder, glaring at Zach before looking at the roof.

"Well that's a start." Brian said. "Why were you in a locker?"

Jayce glared at them.

"Okay... why did you let out that cackle?"

Jayce's gaze hardened even more.

"For..." Brian bit his lip, and sighed. "Why aren't you talking? We are not going to hurt yo-"

"Sure." Jayce spat out, before putting his hands in his pocket and staring daggers at Zach. Brian noticed this and turned to the half-tank.

"You know him?" Brian asked.

Zach shrugged. "No idea who he is. He's just been staring at me as if I was some kind of monster."

"You are." Jayce said, his voice harsh and hating.

Brian saw Elena stiffen, and that caused his stomach to clench. "No one is a monster." Brian said firmly.

"Oh?" Jayce let off a small laugh. "Look at him. He's more infected than he is human."

"You little-" Zach growled, getting up off the chair, but Brian put his hand up.

"Don't Zach." Brian took a breath, and looked back to Jayce. "Look, something obviously went down which was bad for you. Which was the cause for your anger? But-"

"Just like her." Jayce said, looking at Elena. "Spitter? Better off dead."

"Why you..." Zach surged forward.

There was a loud crunch, and Zach stopped in his tracks, while Elena gasped in surprise.

Brian breathed heavily, blood dripping from his fingers and Jayce on the floor, his nose dripping blood. Brian reached down and grabbed his collar, lifting him up so much his feet were off the floor. "You want to say that again?" Brian said dangerously quiet.

Jayce remained quiet, but his face told volumes.

"You have the nerve to call my friends monsters?" Brian asked in his quiet voice. "When you are just like them. You are half-infected, therefore you are being a hypocrite."

"Are you calling me a monster?" Jayce challenged.

"What, can't handle it?" Brian asked, glaring up at Jayce. "Can't handle being called a monster? Well if you can't eat what you dish out, don't say it in the first place." Brian took another breath, and appeared to calm down slightly. "Look. As much as I'm starting to not like you, I realise the position you are in. You are hunted by the Infected, as well as humans. So are we." Brian said. "Travel with us, and we'll find a safe place together. What do you say?" Brian held out his hand.

Jayce looked at it, and stared at the hand. "I don't need you." He slapped the hand away and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "While I'm glad you are not going to kill me. I am perfectly fine on my own."

"That scar doesn't look perfectly fine." Brian said, crossing his arms.

Jayce stiffened. "This scar is none. Of. Your. Business."

"I'm sure it isn't." Brian said, sighing. "Well, it's your choice. I just hope you know what you're doing."

There was a sudden creaking sound, and all eyes drew to the roof, where it suddenly buckled. Torrents of water crashed down onto the group as metal panels crashed to the ground in immense noise that would draw attention from long away.

As the rain poured in, the completely soaked group of five froze.

"Shit!" Brian cursed, before turning to Zach. "Get Gryphon and put him on your shoulders. Everyone else, follow me unless you want to get killed."

At that, Brian ran straight out of one of the collapsed walls, followed by Zach and Elena. Brian saw Infected already running down the street, and he crossed it into another alleyway. It was hard to see as it was dark, but he managed not to hit into anything. He came a stop and opened a doorway, and motioned for Elena to get in. "Zach, head to the roof, we'll meet you there."

Zach nodded, and started climbing with Gryphon on his back as Brian grabbed Elena's hand and the both ran up the stair case.

Both were panting by the time they got to the top, and they already found Zach up there.

"Zach." Brian said, clutching his side. "Get to the-"

Brian was cut off as a Tank climbed over the roof and let off a roar.

"Hey! Don't steal what I do!" Zach protested, and quickly put Gryphon down, before charging. Zach punched the Tank square in the face, but it replied with a harsh head butt. Rearing back, Zach was cracked on top of the head by both thick meaty hands. Collapsing to the ground, Zach let off a groan.

Brian cursed and pointed his pistol at the Tank, but a tongue wrapped around it, and pulled it from his grasp. Brian looked up to see a Smoker, and cursed once more.

Zach let off a yell, causing Brian to look over. The Tank had let of a roar, and had actually lifted Zach over his head.

"Zach!" Brian yelled, and ran forward trying to tackle into the Tank. But it was fruitless, he was just too heavy.

With another loud grunt, the Tank threw Zach, straight off the building. Zach plummeted like a rock, and there was a loud crash, followed by a car alarm.

Brian mouth opened before there was a feminine shout. Looking to Elena, a Hunter was slashing at her with his hands. Before Brian knew what he was doing he ran forward.

"Get off of her!" Brian tackled the Hunter with all his might. Straight off the opposite side of the building than Zach. Brian's leg's flailed in the air as the Hunter let out a shocked grunt. The two figures plummeted straight into a rushing river, which had a strong current from the storm. There was a flash of green from Brian's First Aid Kit, before it was whisked downstream.

Elena stared in shock, and in her panic she grabbed Gryphon and felt her throat grow hot. Before she knew it acid shot from her throat, hitting the floor beneath their feet. There was a hiss, steam rising, before the roof collapsed, causing Elena and Gryphon to fall a short height to the last floor. Elena groaned, and managed to drag Gryphon over to what looked like a storage cupboard. Dragging him in, Elena closed the door of both of them, sealing them in darkness, once more alone together.


	12. Unwanted Memories

**(Thanks to stealthhunter112, wolfgal-leah, and Kara Medyx for your reviews! Hope this chapter goes down well, read on! **

After the long day of events, Elena had fallen asleep next to Gryphon in the storage closet.

Unwanted memories invaded her dream.

**XXX**

_ "Jeff! You okay?"_

_ "I'm fine Matt; take's more than a Boomer to take me down." Jeff Tyler grinned, his black hair covering his face. He wore a black hoody and ripped jeans. _

_ Matt Watson also grinned. "Well, good to know your okay. What about you Elena?" _

_ Elena smiled, her eyes a dark green and her skin smooth. "I'm fine, Matt. You need to stop worrying." _

_ "Meh. Worrying is his middle name." Jeff said, playfully punching Matt on the shoulder. "That's like telling his mum not to sleep with a man." _

_ "Hey!" Matt protested, getting Jeff in a playful headlock. "You calling my mum a whore?" _

_ "That's exactly what I'm saying." Jeff replied, pushing Matt off of him. _

_ "Geez." Elena sighed. "Only you two could be so light hearted in a zombie outbreak." _

_ "No point moping around." Matt said. "We saw enough of that at that refuge centre." _

_ "I wonder if old Francine's all right..." Jeff mused. _

_ "She was that crazy old cat loving lady, right?" Elena questioned. _

_ "That's the one." Jeff replied. "I loved her. Hope she's all right in that safe house." _

_ "She'll be fine." Matt replied, before banging on the window of the small house they were in. "We should go find a mall or something." _

_ "Why a mall?" Elena asked. _

_ "Oh, come on, girl." Jeff replied. "In practically every zombie movie, there is a mall. This wouldn't be as fun if we didn't go to a mall." _

_ "Oh? You do realise we'd just be overwhelmed at a mall?" Elena pointed out. _

_ "Oh, be quiet." Matt replied, crossing his arms. He wore a black T-shirt with a skull design, along with jean shorts and trainers. A large scar ran from knee to ankle from an uncomfortable fight with a witch. _

_ Jeff grabbed the door handle. "Well, let's-" _

_ The door suddenly exploded in splinters, and Matt instinctively pushed Elena out of the way as Jeff was flung to the opposite wall. A charger stood in the doorway, having crashed through the door. _

_ "Jeff!" Elena yelled out. _

_ "I'm fine, kiddo." Jeff replied, standing up and pulling the machine gun from his back. "Bring it Charger!" Jeff let off a volley of shots at the Charger, but it raised its arm, using its muscle to let the bullets go into. Jeff's machine gun clicked shut. "Oh for fucks-" _

_ Jeff dived out of the way as the Charger charged again, smashing through the houses wall. Elena and Matt were fighting off a group of Infected which had rushed in after the Charger. Matt was letting loose with an Uzi, while Elena was just using a pistol. _

_ "Yeah you zombie bitches! Bring it!" Matt yelled, blowing an Infected head straight from its shoulders. But his Uzi suddenly ran out of bullets. "Goddamn it! We so shoulda' restocked!" Matt threw the Uzi, which bounced of the Charger's head, who was trying to grab Jeff, who was running around dodging his hand._

_ "Oh! Like a damn pistol gonna do a lot!" Jeff cried out, before the wall exploded behind him. Two meaty hands pushed through and grabbed his shoulders. A Tank loomed behind Jeff, before it lifted him straight to the roof. Jeff managed to slide out and rolled backwards, straight to Matt's side, and pulled the pistol from Matt's grip. "Stolen!" _

_ "Hey!" Matt protested, but he punched an Infected in the face who was trying to take a good bite out of him. He recoiled, shaking his hand. "Fuck! They have hard skulls!" _

_ Jeff meanwhile aimed and fired, the Tank's eye exploding. But as it let out a roar of pain, the Charger ran forward at Jeff. Jeff rolled to the side, but the Charger slammed it's arm straight into Matt, who let out a cry of pain, hitting the wall with a thunk. _

_ Elena gulped, and fired all her ammo into the Charger's face, mutilating it beyond recognition. It was still alive, and charged at Elena. Quick as a flash, Elena pulled her knife out and stabbed it straight into the Charger's skull as it ran past. It stopped and fell to the ground, dead from the knife. _

_ "Yeah! That's the way!" Matt shouted from the wall, clutching his ribs and wincing. "I think I broken 'em..."_

_ "Conversation later! Tank now!" Jeff shouted, dodging under a Tank's arms. He jabbed a knife into the Tank's leg to no avail. "STUPID MUSCLY BASTARD!" He practically screamed, and jumped up onto the Tank's back, hooking his arms around his neck. _

_ "Are you crazy?" Elena exclaimed, as Jeff tried to get the air out of the Tank. _

_ "He is." Matt said beside her, his knife in hand. They all had knifes, although Matt had the only one now. Matt went to charge forward, but Jeff let out a strangled cry as he was thrown from the Tank's back, landing in between Matt and Elena. Jeff groaned, picking himself up._

_ "I'll kill you!" Jeff shouted, and ran forward again. But this time, the Tank reacted quickly and grabbed Jeff's head. Jeff flailed slightly, before there was a sickening crunch as the Tank crushed his head. Jeff's lifeless body fell to the ground, and the Tank turned towards Matt, who was standing in shock. _

_ For Elena, everything dulled. Ever since she had met Jeff in the Refuge Centre, he had been like a big brother to him, and he was... _

_ "Elena!" _

_ The voice of Matt was dulled, and she looked at him, wondering what he wanted. But then a thick slimy limb wrapped around her throat, and before she knew it, a Smoker's tongue smashed her straight through the window, into the darkness. _

_**XXX**_

Elena let out a garbled cry and shot up in the darkness of the storage closet, panting, sweating, and put a hand on her hair, her eyes feeling hot.

"You okay?" Gryphon ask from her side, weakly. "We got to the rooftop, but I must've fallen unconscious. Where's Zach and Brian?"

"Gone." Elena said bitterly. "We finally found allies, we finally found hope... and there gone!"

"Hey... Hey..." Elena felt Gryphon stroke her hair in the darkness, reassuring. "They may be gone, but they aren't dead. They are resilient, y'know."

"But Brian... he sacrificed himself for me!" Elena choked out, feeling close to tears. "I hardly knew him... but he was a human who accepted us!"

"Did you see him die?" Gryphon asked quietly.

"No... no I didn't... I was being attacked by a Hunter, and he tackled him off me and went off the side of the building. He has to be dead, he has to-"

"Sshh..." Gryphon said. "If you didn't see him die, then he's not dead. All right? What about Zach?"

"Thrown off the building..." Elena murmured.

"Well, he's strong, so I doubt he died. Come on, let's go find him." Gryphon let out a noise of pain. "I don't suppose you could help me?"

"Sure." Elena replied miserably, feeling like she lost Matt and Jeff all over again.


	13. Missing

**(Thanks to Kara Medyx and Stealthhunter112 for your reviews! If you're hoping for Zach and Brian to appear in near chapters... well, I can't be TOO nice, now, can I? Read on!**

Elena and Gryphon could find no trace of Zach.

Well, that's not entirely true. They found a crushed car with the vague body shape, but that was it. Rain was drizzling down after last night's storm, which in turn had caused lots of puddles.

"Don't worry, he probably just gone somewhere safer." Gryphon said, although heartedly. Elena could see that it was starting to doubt himself. Elena sighed and tried to think what was wrong about the whole scene. The crushed car, the building they had fought on, but... something seemed off, and Elena just couldn't place it.

Gryphon took his arm of Elena and slowly moved over to the car, and picked up a car door, which was crumpled inward. The windows smashed in spider webs, and dry blood covering the seat. Not recent, thankfully. A glint caught his eye, and he crouched down painfully.

"No sign of a fight!" Elena clicked her fingers.

"Sorry?" Gryphon asked, standing up again.

"There isn't sign of a fight." Elena said, her eyes darting around the scene. "I mean, a car alarm went off when he fell, and that should have drawn a horde. But there isn't any dead bodies, no zombies, nothing."

"You're saying he was killed?" Gryphon asked, raising his eyebrow.

"I don't know. There isn't any fresh blood either. Or Zach's body for the matter. If the zombie's killed him, they wouldn't just hide him away either, would they? No, something's wrong here. How did Zach get away without fighting the zombies, especially with his personality? And if there were no zombies, why not?"

"You're starting to sound like a detective." Gryphon said, faintly smiling.

"But you have to admit, it's weird, right?"

"Want to know something else which is weird?" Gryphon asked.

"What?" Elena frowned.

"Look, I found it by the car." Gryphon held out his hand, and in his palm was a silver object on a pin, like a brooch. It was like a circle with the bottom taken out, and two points sticking out.

Elena still recognised it. "That's the Omega symbol..."

"What, you mean like the Greek Omega?"

"Exactly that." Elena confirmed. "But why... I don't understand, Ellis. There is no trace of Zach, or of a horde, and we find a weird Omega symbol by the car."

Gryphon stroked his chin. "Something's weird all right, but I have no idea what."

"What should we do now?" Elena asked.

"Back to the casino." Gryphon answered immediately. "We were safe there and-"

"And what?" Elena found a flare of anger in her. "Abandon Zach? Abandon Brian?"

Gryphon looked uncomfortable and scratched his chin.

"Look, Ellis, for once we found people who would accept us, where no one else would. We are suffering from some... freak disease which causes us to retain our minds, yet have infected bodies. We can't just... abandon them. I don't won't to stop searching until we either find them or... or their bodies... I need confirmation at least, Ellis."

Gryphon still looked uncomfortable. "Elena... They survived together before... they can do it again..."

"But they aren't together are they. They worked together well, but apart they are like a machine missing parts. As much as I hate to say it, Zach doesn't have the sense to hide away; he'll just keep fighting Infected until they kill him. And Brian is smart, sure, but he doesn't have the brawn. He's a goddamn human, Ellis, and he could get bitten and then... then he's just gone like the whole goddamn world!"

Gryphon flinched back in surprise. Elena hadn't had an outburst such as this since he had been with her.

"Elena, please-"

"Don't please me Ellis! I'm sorry if I'm not an emotionless husk like you! I'm sorry if I want to rescue my friends! You can go to the casino by yourself, because I for one want to find my friends who I actually care for!" Elena sniffed and turned heel, walking down the street.

"Elena!" Gryphon exclaimed, but Elena ignored him. He tried to run forward, but that was a mistake. He collapsed to one knee, clutching his other thigh in pain. "Elena!"

Elena had turned a corner, and was gone.

Gryphon grimaced, blood leaking under the bandage. He was shocked. Elena never argued, at least not to that degree. They had always worked together, and now she had just walked off. Gryphon stood up shaking and started an awkward walk after Elena, unable to support his weight on his leg.

It took a few minutes, but Gryphon found Elena in a dilapidated phone box, sobbing. He awkwardly sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders, remaining quiet for a few minutes.

"Hey, Elena..." Gryphon said quietly. "Don't cry. Look, I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm scared, okay. I'm scared that Brian's plan of finding somewhere safe will go horribly wrong, I just felt that... since we lasted in the Casino before, we could do it again."

Elena didn't answer, just sniffled.

Gryphon sighed. "I'm not emotionless, you know that. After all, you're like a little sister to me. You're like family, as far as I'm concerned."

There was a sudden bolt of lightning, splitting the skies. Rain started to fall in a torrent once again.

"Ellis..." Elena muttered, causing Gryphon to look down.

"Yeah?"

"I want them back, Ellis. All of them. I want mom back. I want dad back. I want Matt and Jeff and Zach and Brian... I want them all back, Ellis. I don't want to be alone."

"Hey, what am I, a statue?" Gryphon quietly joked. "I'm here, Elena, and I'll always be here, assuming you don't throw any more knives at me."

This caused a faint smile.

Gryphon adjusted himself so he was slightly more comfortable in the phone booth, and he looked around slightly. Graffiti covered the walls from a time long ago. Chewing gum under the phone. Good old city life before the invasion.

"I miss my dad." Gryphon said, looking to the ceiling of the booth. "I wish I heard his witty remarks, his colourful curses. The stories of when he beat up a mugger who tried to rob mum. Hell, I'd even have him shoot at me again if I saw him again. Everyone has lost someone, Elena. Because of this people are sad, and angry, and sometimes mad. But the thing is, if we have any hope of surviving this, we have to find someone. Or some people. I found you, or you found me. Now we're together, little sister and big brother. Then we found we found Brian and Zach. Likeable people when you're not trying to kill them. Uncles, I guess. We can find a whole new family, Elena. Keep the memories of old, but form new ones. We could find others like us. Find others like Brian. Form one big happy family."

Elena smiled up at him with cloudy eyes. "You sure do know how to make someone feel better, Ellis."

"Hey, that's me." Gryphon stood up and stepped out of the booth, offering a hand to Elena. "Now come on, I believe we got some people to find, right?"

"Sorry..." Elena said, grabbing his hand. "I shouldn't have blown off like that."  
"You'd like to blow off on Brian, I'm sure." Gryphon cheekily grinned.  
Elena turned red and smacked Gryphon on the arm. "You're horrible!"  
"I'm a big brother. What am I meant to be, nice?" Gryphon looked shocked. "Elena, I'm going to need you as a crutch."  
"Walk by yourself." Elena crossed her arms and mock pouted.  
"You're horrible!" Gryphon repeated, mimicking Elena. "Fine, I'll just hobble along by myself then and die of blood loss. I think I feel faint already..."  
Elena grabbed him under the arm. "You big softie. Let's find Zach then, before you annoy me anymore."


	14. No Trace

**(Thanks to Kara Medyx, , Wolfgal-leah and bloody raptor for your reviews! I think it's time for another person... read on!) **

After two days, Elena and Gryphon had all but lost hope. They had searched all around the dockside area, avoiding the Infected. The first day they covered the harbour and warehouses by it, searching for a trace of the half-Tank Infected. They had spent the night staying in a small room they found in a warehouse, which was likely a managers office.

The second day they had decided to move to the main bulk of the city, which consisted of modern white-brick buildings or glass buildings rising into the air. It took a long time as they searched every floor thoroughly, looking through cupboards and anyway a Tank could hide in. No luck.

They also searched by the river for any trace of Brian, but as the weather increased, the more they felt they wouldn't find him. The water was rushing in a torrent which was impossible to swim over even for an accomplished swimmer. Brian would have been swept away, and there was no trace of him either.

The only clue they had of Zach's disappearance was the Omega symbol, but even that was vague and impossible to track. Neither Elena nor Gryphon knew anything about any Omega based merchandise or the like.

As the sun went down on the city, Elena and Gryphon sat in the old library of the local university. Books surrounded them on all sides, in a labyrinth of text and information. With the plush seats and dull lighting, it would have been a comforting atmosphere.

But it was sombre.

Elena had gone quieter and quieter, to the point that she only answered with nods and shakes of her head. Gryphon's leg didn't seem to get any better, if worse, but he wasn't about to tell Elena that. She had too much on her mind.

It hurt Gryphon a lot. He knew Elena was fragile, with Matt and Jeff. It made it hard that she had made friends with Zach and especially Brian, only to lose them.

Perhaps they had thought they were dead? Gryphon dismissed the though. Brian wouldn't have ran away, he would have come back to search for them. But... it had been two days, surely they would have found a trace, and they hadn't. That meant that they were gone, so was it really worth continuing to search?

"I have to." Gryphon murmured to himself. For Elena, at least.

Then a cry was heard. A faint one, almost weeping.

Gryphon stiffened, and looked to Elena. It wasn't her. In this time of the Infection, crying usually meant one thing. "Witch." Gryphon sad, loud enough for Elena to hear, but she didn't show any indication that she heard.

Gryphon shrugged and grunted slightly as he got to his feet, cursing mentally as pressure hit his bad leg. He grabbed a particularly heavy book from a shelf, and started limping towards the noise. "I'll be back Elena."

Still no reply. '_God, did those two really mean that much to her?'_ Brian thought to himself, before opening a heavy set door into a corridor. At intervals were doors, going into classrooms or other special rooms. A set of lockers were on one side of the wall, and a bright red fire alarm above doors.

He moved down the corridor, and put his ear against one of the doors. The crying was louder here. Gryphon figured it would be better to get rid of the Witch before she could attract any unwanted attention.

He carefully opened the door. Slowly. Shocking a Witch was basically signing your own death sentence.

Inside turned out to be an office of some kind. A large set of filing cabinets were on one corner, in front of them was a large wooden desk. It seemed undisturbed, papers still in its tray, the light off. Perhaps when the Infection first hit everyone was out.

Gryphon etched further, raising the book. One could hit should disable a Witch so he could finish her off.

He moved around the desk, and saw a huddled figure under the desk. It looked like a typical Witch. Pale skin, the faint glow of eyes. Gryphon noticed the hair was brown, but that wasn't anything to worry about.

He took one more step forward, and the Witch suddenly sprang up, claws at Gryphon. Gryphon threw the book down, straight on the Witch's head. Instead of falling, the Witch stumbled backwards and felt her head.

"Ow..."

Gryphon felt his eyebrows rise. "Ow?"

The Witch looked at him, and he noticed that her eyes were more pinkish and she was young, fifteen maybe?. "Y-you can talk?"

Gryphon opened his mouth, then shut it, then stared at the Witch. "You can talk?"

The Witch looked just as confused as Gryphon. "Wait, what... now I'm confused. Since when did Hunter's talk?"

Gryphon couldn't believe it. This conversation was so... casual. "Uh... I'm a half-infected."

The Witches eyes widened. "No way! And I thought I was the only one since that Tank guy was thrown into that van. That is such a relief, I thought that the Infection had developed so Infected could talk, who are-" The Witch paused at Gryphon's expression. "What is it... you aren't... hostile, are you?"

"You said something about a 'tank guy' thrown into a van. What did you see?" Gryphon stared hard at the Witch.

"Yeah, he wasn't as big as a normal tank, and he was bleeding from his arm. I was watching from a window to the street, and saw him on the car, unmoving. I thought he was a goner, but then this van appeared from around the corner, stopped, and this military like people got out, then took him into the back of the van, and then drove off again. I'm Mazie Collins by the way, who are you?"

Gryphon didn't answer. "Was there some kind of symbol on the side?"

"I think so..." Mazie frowned.

"Did it look like this?" Gryphon took the Omega symbol from his pocket and showed it to Mazie.

"That's it! Odd symbol, isn't it."

Gryphon's mind was awhirl. An Omega symbol on a van? Did this mean that they were longer for something completely different. Not a shop or business, but an organization? If they had a van with military personal... Elena definitely needed to know.

Gryphon turned and limped out of the room.

"Uh... hey, wait..." Mazie called out, stroking her hair over her ear. "What's wrong?"

"Omega..." Gryphon muttered. "What are you?"


	15. Utopia

**(Thank to , stealthhunter112, GlassesDude, and Kara Medyx. A bit of bad news for you. I am going on a week-ish break since it's my birthday on Saturday, and I'm away. Right, let's go to either Zach or Brian, while leaving the other shrouded in mystery. **

Zach blinked, aching all over. He first registered the pain in his back, and audibly groaning. What had happened again? Zach remembered the Tank had actually managed to lift him, and threw him off the side of the building. He remembered a crash, and then... nothing.

Zach looked at the roof, which was a harsh white. He turned his head seeing a large steel door, with numerous bolts, a hatch, and a peephole. Zach turned so he was sitting on the bed, and noticed he was dressed in a white t-shirt stretched around his frame. Investigating the room completely, he realized it was pretty bare.

A barred stood small at the top of the room, so Zach wouldn't be able to climb out even if he broke it. A steel table was in the corner, but nothing else. Zach felt parched, but there wasn't a glass or tap in sight.

Zach opened his mouth to shout, but no noise came out. His eyes widened, and he tried speaking. Nothing.

Starting to panic, without a voice and any understanding of where he was, Zach stood up walked over to the door. There wasn't a handle on his side, though. He went to knock when the peephole slid open, and an eye stared at him.

"Stand back." The voice hissed, before the door opened.

Zach took a step back to avoid the thick metal door, and was staring at a small man, back slightly hunched and glasses propped upon his nose. He looked like the sort of man who would have been bullied at school. By people like Zach.

Zach had a disbelieving thought that he was kidnapped because this was some kind of kid from his school, but he dismissed this idea. This man was around 50, almost 30 years older than Zach.

"My name is Professor Jerrod." The man, Jerrod said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "We have disabled your voice box to stop from any disrupting sounds, be it talking or otherwise."

Zach didn't like the way Jerrod said that, and he stepped forward threatingly, still confused, but figuring he could use his size to advantage.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that, Mr. Wilde. We have implanted a chip in the back of the neck. You try to escape and we will activate it. Simply put, your neck will detach from your shoulders. Of course, you could try it." Jerrod put his arms out, inviting Zach to attack.

But the man's voice was serious. So serious, that Zach had no doubts this man was ready to kill him. So many questions were whirling around Zach's mind, and it didn't help he couldn't actually say them.

Jerrod was expressionless in a professional manner, and he put his arms down. "You will follow me." He said simply, before walking away from the small room.

Zach had no choice but to following, looking around as he went. The corridor they were in was just as white as the room, with similar doors alternating down the walls. They turned off to a staircase, and they walked up, opening a door.

Zach's mouth fell open.

The room in front of him was so different than down the staircase. A red rug adorned the floor, with gold stitched patterns in it. A huge chandelier, glittering, hung from a chain in the middle of the hall, and a great fireplace was on the opposite wall. The desks, drawers, and furniture were all oak, polished and layered with dark red velvet.

Jerrod, so out of place in this atmosphere walked towards the fireplace, where Zach noticed a figure sitting with his back towards them. He could see a glass of wine in the man's white gloved hand.

"Zach Wilde is here." Jerrod said, before walking off, tapping the back of his neck at Zach, quite clearly telling the message not to do anything.

Zach remained standing quite awkwardly. He felt out of place from the city he was born in. Malformed and ugly were words which did not describe the house.

"Please, sit down."

The voice was crystal clear, and despite being quiet, commanding.

Zach dumbly walked over to an opposite plush chair, and sat down, the wood creaking under his weight. He got a clear look at the man.

He was wearing a white suit, a red handkerchief in his pocket and a red tie over a black shirt. A wooden cane sat next to his leg, the top of it globular and appeared to be gold. His face was smooth and clean-shaven. The man had black hair, gleaming teeth, and eyes which told many a story. But the thing which caught Zach's eye was the Omega symbol on his left side of the jacket, on the collar.

"Good afternoon, Zach. May I call you Zach?"

Zach nodded, feeling nervous.

"My name is Harvey Jermaine. The third richest man in the world, and one of the most intelligent of our species." Harvey Jermaine looked into Zach's eyes. "It must be hard for you, to be fused with the DNA of a... Tank, I believe you call them. Gross muscle enlargement, pressure on the brain, a spine threatening to break. All bad. But I am a scientist. I have produced numerous tests and experiments on the Infected, achieving much more than the CEDA." Harvey appeared to be talking to himself. "I have invented new strands of Infection. I believe you have encountered one of them. The Leviathan, I like to call him. We had found a couple of divers in a boat. We hijacked the boat, and infused the DNA of a Smoker and a Tank. The result caused them to be unique infected. But I am getting ahead of myself. It is a lot to take in Zach, having woken up two days since we got you from the wreckage of a car."

Harvey's eyes gleamed. "That's right Zach, it's been two days. You would like to know that your friend Brian has gone into the river, almost certainly dead, and the two other half-Infected have abandoned you. I would of course have preferred all of them, but, I wanted to work on one at a time. Starting with you Zach. A... unique specimen. An Infected retaining the mind of the human it was before? Unheard of, but yet, there are a number of you scuttling about. But not only Ellis or Elena, or even Jayce. No, there are a number of them, and I am keeping a close eye on all of you. After all, if you could control the power the Infected holds to true potential, you could stand in the way of what I want to achieve. But... once more I must be confusing you. You ask yourself, what do I do that is so important?" Harvey took a sip of his wine and stared into the fire. "I am going to be the saviour of the world. I am going to harness the Infection, and make 'super-soldiers' just like you. Infected with minds. I will create new strands like my Leviathan, and join them to a human host. Imagine, if you will, a Leviathan with a mind. I will achieve everything I need to. How? I am the leader of my own personal organization, entitled Omega. Consisting of the best minds the USA, Europe, and Asia have to offer, we will harness the Infection in a matter of years completely. Defeating the bad Infected, I will craft a new world." Harvey leaned forward to Zach. "How this it involve you, Zach? Because of your heritage, because of your bloodline. I have a number of tests I want to do. Painful, yet fulfilling. You have no choice, but it does not matter. You are serving your country, and your new leader." Harvey smiled, shaking Zach to the core. "You shall be permitted to live in my Utopia."


	16. The Damned Trio

**(Thanks to GlassesDude, bloody raptor, AlexTheMortal, and Kara Medyx for your reviews! Right. I am now going to be updating once every day for only one of my stories, meaning this story and all my others will be updated every five days. This is because I got to revise for my GCSE's which are coming up, and rather than stopping writing all together, I'll leave it to updating every five days. Hope you understand, and read on!**

"Wait... so we're looking at an organization here then?" Elena asked.

"Yes." Gryphon replied.

"Who have kidnapped Zach for some unknown reason?"

"That's right."

"And you are aware you are being followed, right?"

"Ri- What?" Gryphon blinked and looked around; just seeing the Half-Infected Witch, Mazie, smile meekly. "Oh... ah, that's Mazie. I found her under a desk."

"And you forgot to tell me?" Elena asked, slightly surprised.

"Exactly. I was too preoccupied in getting the info of Zach to you." Gryphon shrugged and looked over to Mazie, or was looking to Elena in surprise. "Why did you follow me? For all you knew, I could have been leading you to your death."

"I was intrigued." Mazie said, her pink eyes glancing around. "This is the first time I've seen someone who hasn't tried to kill me. I'm just hoping you still won't."

"Why would we?" Gryphon asked. "Unless you haven't noticed, we're pretty much the same here, just different types of Infected."

Mazie studied Gryphon. "I know I should be scared... I just, want something new in my life. Not the old fashioned running around. Is that too much to ask?"

Gryphon stared a Mazie, who rubbed her nose and looked against the wall. He knelt down next to Elena.

"What do you think?"

"I think this is silly, Ellis, you can't just add her to the group like that."

"Well, I and you were pretty much like that when Zach and Brian found us. You can see it in her eyes, she's afraid, and likes to investigate. It's possible that she'll poke her nose where it doesn't belong, and she'll be zombie chow. Now I've seen her, I'll have that on my conscience."

"As long as you're sure, Ellis. As long as we find Brian and Zach."

Gryphon nodded and stood up, looking to Mazie. "Look, Mazie. If you want to come with us, you're more than welcome to."

Mazie's eyes lit up. "Really? You really mean it? It's not... like a trap, or anything is it?"

Gryphon shook his head. "There is no trap, but in the end, it up to you to decide. Come with us, or continue on your own."

"I guess I'll believe you... for now." Mazie said. "I just don't want to feel betrayed again..."

"Again?" Gryphon echoed, but noticed Mazie stiffen. "By the way, my name is Ellis, although I prefer to be called Gryphon. This is Elena, my companion."

Mazie had gotten a dusty chair from the corner and sat down, still looking half-scared, half-intrigued. "You had other companions, right? You were talking about Zach and Brian."

"Yeah. Zach is a half-infected like us. A tank. From what you said, he must've been captured, god knows why. We have looked for him, but its moot point now, we've both agreed. We've got no leads, and he could be on the other side of America by now."

"What about Brian?"

"Brian is the only complete human who's accepted us for who we were. He is Zach's best friend, and the two found us. Brian sacrificed himself for me." Elena suddenly said, her eyes cast in the shadows. "That was Brian. Always thinking about others before himself."

"He hasn't necessarily died." Gryphon added. "He went straight off the top of a building into the river, we suspect. So there is a chance he has survived, just washed downstream. But the water was mighty fierce then, and to be honest, if he was unconscious... well, as I said, the river was strong."

Mazie blinked. "That has to be horrible. Losing two of your friends like that."

"They aren't lost!" Elena suddenly snapped. "Zach's kidnapped and Brian is in the river somewhere. But both are very much alive and not lost!" She took a breath and turned to Gryphon. "I want to get some sleep."

"Sure." Gryphon said, nodding.

Her thoughts jumbled, Elena moved towards one of the rows of books and disappeared behind, pulling her top around her and closing her eyes.

The footsteps woke Elena up.

Rubbing her eyes, she saw Gryphon was asleep, his head slouched down towards his lap. Mazie was also curled up in the corner, breathing lightly.

The footsteps continued, and Elena stood up carefully, also noticing a dripping noise.

"...Elena..."

The whisper caught Elena off guard, and her eyes widened.

"...Come to me... Elena..."

Elena stumbled forward, towards the wooden doors. She opened them, and her eyes widened in happiness.

Brian stood there, his clothes ripped, completely drenched, but alive and well.

"Brian! You're alive! Thank god, I'm so happy!" Elena burst out, still not quite believe it. She looked up to Brian's eyes, and saw them looking down at her angrily.

"You doubted me, Elena. You thought I was dead. Drowned at the bottom of the river. You gave up on me Elena." Brian's skin started turning white, his eyes turning black.

"Like you gave up on us." The simultaneous voices caused Elena to turn to see Jeff and Matt. Jeff's head was crushed and bloody, and Matt looked on sadly.

"You left my body to be ravaged." Jeff said.

"And you left me without any thought." Matt said. "I was in the building, stranded and alone, and where were you Elena! Why didn't you come and save me!"

"Why didn't you stop the Tank?"

"Why didn't you prevent me from drowning!"

Three sets of hands grabbed hold of Elena. She was too shocked to speak, and found herself staring into Brian's now lifeless eyes. "Come with me, Elena. Experience what I experienced!"

There was a rumbling sound, and then the wall exploded. Water rushed through, taking Jeff, Matt and Brian. Elena was engulfed, water cracking around her and flinging against the walls, each hit sharp. The darkness enveloped her, and bubbles burst from her mouth. Lungs burning, Elena scrabbled about and grabbed something, pulling it up.

Brian's now decayed body rose up and clamped his jaws on Elena's neck.

Elena screamed, bolting upright, breathing heavily.

"Elena? What is it!" Gryphon limped to her side surprising fast and knelt down. "What did you see?"

Elena panted, sweating. "I... It was just... just a nightmare..."

Gryphon stroked her hair back. "Just a nightmare? You want to talk about it?"

Elena shook her head. "I just want to forget it... please, get some sleep. I'll keep watch..."


	17. Hunted

**Thanks to Kara Medyx, GlassSoul, stealthhunter112, bloody raptor, and wolfgal-leah for your reviews! Right,taking a bit of a break from our 'heroes' of the story, and towards a potential enemy... and some appearances from peoples characters! Rightio, read on! **

**1 day later**

His scream echoed through the trees, causing birds to take flight and flutter away. The man was thrown forward, hitting the mind. His mind ablaze and shoulder burning; he reached behind him and grabbed the thick barb, pulling it from his skin. Blood dripped down his body, and he flung the barb to the ground, taking to jogging again.

Julius Magnus could see the shadows against the trees. Flittering through his vision. What did he do to deserve this? This wasn't just a normal human attack.

Julius flung himself sideways as the air whistled, just dodging a barb which dug into the tree next to him. He had already figured that the barb's had some kind of tranquilizer, and was already feeling sluggish.

A black helmeted figure lurched from the trees, a state-of-the-art metal crossbow in his hands.

"Get away!" Julius roared, and a thick appendage shot from his neck, slamming into the figure hard. But the action knocked a groggy Julius off balance, and he fell backwards, feeling empty air instead of ground. For a breath, panic-struck second, Julius thought he had fallen off a cliff, but realised how absurd that was. He was in the middle of a forest for god's sake!

Then he slammed backwards against the mud, which splashed up around his grimy suit. His appendage, which was actually a tongue, crept back around his neck as he lay down.

Julius was a Half-Infected, contained Smoker DNA and human DNA. He was freaked out when he first started developing the tumours, and then his tongue. But he'd grown with it, and lived with relative comfort in a village near a river. But after a tine of living nicely, the village was attacked by these men, and it was apparent they were aiming for him. So he ran, straight into the forest. He'd thought he escaped.

Julius was wrong.

Turning over and getting to all fours, Julius picked himself up, coughing slightly. He always got a cough after exercise. One of the downsides of being a smoker before he was turned into an actual Smoker.

He took a deep breath, before running again. It appeared Julius was in some kind of bog or swamp, as the mud slogged around his ankles, slowing him down. Finally he hit hard ground, and Julius went off with surprising speed, not willing to wait around.

Then something slammed straight into his face with so much force it literally caused him to back flip. Julius landed on his stomach, groaning. A hand grasped the back of his collar, lifting him up.

He was staring at black-haired young man, his hair cut short and his face unblemished and unmarred. He looked oddly... made-up.

Julius struggled and punched forward, but the man grabbed his fist and twisted, causing Julius to cry out in pain again. The man spun around, arm still in hand, and pushed against Julius' back. Julius collapsed on the ground, his arm wrenched behind him and the man kneeling on his back.

His struggling stopped as Julius felt something sharp on his neck, and then he started to fade.

"Subject Julius Robert Magnus has been captured. On way to base, over."

Then he blacked out.

**2 Days Later **

Beta Squadron hoisted their guns on their shoulders, and stared at the derelict Inn. They had travelled over to England for this catch, and it was going to be easy.

It was always easy. Desmond assured them of that.

Said Desmond was leading the group, his perfect face and short black hair emotionless. He wore a black tight shirt and trousers.

The Inn was one of the old-fashioned ones, with vines wrapping up the grey walls, just touching the straw roof. Roses covered the garden, with paved stones indicating a path. You would have mistaken it for a cottage, had it not been for the worn sign at the front, called "Princes' Inn"

"Come." Desmond said, walking forward over the paced stones. Even his voice was emotionless, robotic. As if someone had put human skin over cybertronics. That wouldn't have been surprising considering Desmond's father.

Desmond opened the door at the Beta squadron curved around the side of the Inn. More often than not, Beta Squadron was there only to secure the area. Desmond did all the work, and he never failed.

Desmond looked around the inside of the cottage. Everything was completely ruined, tables upturned, chairs ripped open, the windows smashed.

That's when Desmond heard the crying.

He tilted his head towards the sound, before starting to climb up the stairs, one at a time. Desmond turned a corner, knowing exactly where he was going. The sounds of crying grew louder and louder, and Desmond faced a door which would have been the owners bedroom.

He counted three seconds, and then kicked the door on the lock with so much power and speed it burst open. Desmond ran forward fast and jumped over the bed, leaning down and pulling the scared woman out from underneath it.

"Who-who are you!" the woman cried out, her glowing red eyes looking at Desmond in panic. Along with the glowing red eyes, the woman had sharp finger-like claws. The typical characteristics of a Witch.

In one second of surveying, Desmond pulling a syringe from his pocket, and jabbed it into the side of the woman's neck. The woman went out like a light, falling to the floor.

Desmond clicked something on his ear, which was actually a contact radio.

"Subject Aurrum Melody Wrayth has been captured. Will be ready for pick-up."

"Desmond!" The voice cracked over the radio, and caused Desmond face to actually show emotion. Surprise and fear.

"Father?"

"Yes. You were too slow."

"What do you mean?"

"Three of the Subjects have completely gone. Our programmes can't pick them up."

"What? Like last time, father, with Jayce Chalandra?"

"Exactly. Joshua Sparks, Edward Borde, and Aaron James are gone. This is due to your foolishness, Desmond. You will get transport straight back to America, and you WILL capture the final three subjects. As you know, tests prove that this plan will go much farther. Hence, I need them very soon. Get Mazie Collins, Ellis Evergreen, and Elena Quail. Do not fail me son, otherwise you will face the consequences."

"Yes father." Desmond responded, before his father hung up.


	18. Gryphon's Choice

**(Thanks to Apocalypse Survivor, GlassSoul, bloody raptor, Kara Medyx, and GlassesDude for your reviews! Super shocking chapter today I believe. As the chapter suggests, Gryphon is going to have to make a hell of a choice. One I think none of us would ever want to be in. Well, enough of me hinting it, read about it! Read on! **

Gryphon was worried. Worried that they still hadn't found any more clues of Zach, even after a week of searching. Worried that there was literally no trace of Brian. Worried that Mazie was going to leave the group for lack of direction.

But mostly, he was worried about Elena. Her eyes had grown hollow, and she shuffled instead of walked. When he brought it up, Elena snapped at him and continued on the fruitless search. It wasn't like Elena, but meeting Brian and his following disappearance had changed her.

Gryphon almost felt like leaving himself. He knew that they couldn't find Zach if he was kidnapped or something. And Brian was likely dead. Perhaps he'd leave with Mazie, considering she was contemplating it anyway because she actually wanted to get out of the city rather than search for people she hadn't even seen.

The only good news was that they hadn't been attacked by any Infected. The few strays they saw were either feasting on a long rotten carcass, or fighting with each other.

Elena was empty of emotion. Gryphon and Mazie were feeling empty. The whole city was starting to look and feel empty.

**XXX**

The truth was the Infected were starting to die out. They couldn't reproduce, and the remaining survivors couldn't keep up. Where the population of America was once over 310 million, now it was down to 300 thousand. Including Infected.

Even those who were human had started to give up. They lost hope of this ever ending. Lost hope that the CEDA would save them.

In fact, the CEDA was all but gone. One Infected had managed to get into their main base after a large Horde, and spread the disease throughout the establishment. The director was killed, as were most of the scientists and soldiers.

The Infection was quite literally taking over the whole of the USA, perhaps even other continents such as Asia or Europe. Major communications had been destroyed. The President of the United States was hidden somewhere by himself. The White House itself had been invaded. When that happened, that was the spark which caused humans to kill themselves or turn mad. Some turned into looters and rapists. Most just died of exhaustion or Infection.

A once thriving country had turned desolate and ghostly.

**XXX**

"I am in the location of the three targets, father."

"Good. Capture them Desmond, then call evac."

"Yes father."

Desmond clicked off the radio and took a deep breath. He had decided to come by himself, leaving Beta Squadron back at base.

On his hips hung two high-power pistols. His armour was bullet-proof and strong. His gloves and boots were lined with steel, allowing for harder hits. Finally he carried a briefcase which contained a sniper rifle. Specifically a Heckler and Koch MSG90A1 type. He kneeled down, looking over the edge of the building he had climbed up a minute before. It was high, but not as high as some of the skyscrapers around the area. He opened the briefcase, constructed the sniper rifle, put it on a stand and set it up.

Desmond went onto his belly and looked into his scope, looking down and spying his three targets. Desmond's mouth twitched into a smile, before he put his finger on the trigger and prepared to take down the first target.

Orders were to capture and not kill. Desmond would aim to a place in the body just above the heart. The bullet would miss major arteries and organs, but would still incapacitate the victim until surgery, which they would involuntarily get when Desmond took them back to base.

Desmond took a deep breath, and positioned his barrel just above Mazie Collins' heart.

**XXX**

Mazie was actually getting frustrated. She had thought she had found a chance to get out of the city. But no, all it was was a fruitless rescue mission. Mazie liked Gryphon enough, but Elena she didn't like. The girl acted as if she didn't exist, and moped about all day.

It was time, Mazie decided. Young as she was, she'd stand more chance actually attempting to get out of the city.

"Guys." Mazie said, halting Gryphon and Elena. Elena just stood there, but Gryphon turned.

"Yeah?"

"I... I've been thinking... and... Well, I think it would be bet-"

BANG

Mazie's eyes widened as a small splatter of blood hit her chin. Feeling slow, she looked down to see crimson spreading over her chest, before crumpling to the floor.

"Mazie!" Gryphon exclaimed, going over to the Half-Witch. Mazie's eyes were already closed, and she was faintly breathing. "What the... shit!"

BANG

Gryphon suddenly felt sick. Initially he had thought he had been shot. But he soon realised it wasn't him. Gryphon turned, dreading what he would see.

Elena stood there, her hand on her chest looking faintly confused.

"No... Elena..." Gryphon muttered his legs like lead. He couldn't move, only watch as Elena fell down to the road. "God... god no..."

Gryphon stumbled backwards unintentionally, and that was what saved him. The bullet hit just over his shoulder. It was so close it cut into his skin, but it didn't hit anything nearly vital. Gryphon looked up from where it came from to see the black-clad figure on the building.

_"Ellis! You... no!" _

_ Ellis felt sick. He looked at his father who was holding the recently fired pistol, down to the Infected sprawled at Ellis' feet. Finally, Ellis looked to the bite on his arm. _

_ "You are Infected..." his father said, before putting the pistol up towards Ellis. "I'm... I'm so sorry Ellis." _

_ "No! Edward what are you doing!" _

_ The bullet rang out, and it deflected against the wall of the Casino. Edward Evergreen looked down in fury at his wife, who had grabbed his hand. "Barbara! Get away! He's been bitten damnit!" _

_ "And you are just going to KILL our son? Edward, I never would have thought..." _

_ "Let go Barbara." _

_ "But... we can find a cure! There has to be a cure!" _

_ "We all know there isn't Barbara." Edward pushed Barbara away, and she hit the ground hard. Tears we in her eyes, and she already knew Edward was going to shoot Ellis, who was standing there dumbly. _

_ "Ellis!" _

_ His mother's cry was sharp, and got Ellis' attention. _

_ "Ellis! Run! Run away!" _

_ "Wha... mum... what?" _

_ "Run away! Please, go now if you want to survive!" _

_ "I..." _

_ "RUN AWAY ELLIS! GO NOW!" _

Gryphon felt tears in his eyes, the shouts of his mother ringing in his head. Like that time which seemed a lifetime ago, Gryphon turned and ran.

He ran as fast as he could, ignoring the pain in his leg. As he ran, he hated himself. Hated himself for leaving Mazie and Elena. But what could he have done? He couldn't have carried them with his leg. He'd have been shot.

So Gryphon ran through the city, going through dark alleyways, tears falling from his eyes. He had abandoned his father and his mother. Now he had abandoned Elena. Alone, Gryphon ran as fast as he could, constantly apologizing out loud, almost shouting it. But he continued on, even when there was no more threat.


	19. Spiker and Goliath

**(Thanks to bloody raptor and GlassSoul for your reviews! I really like writing this slightly shorter chapter, merely because of the two new characters I introduce... but not as you would think. Read on! **

Desmond was kneeling on one knee, his eyes shut in shame.

"I am sorry father. I was only able to capture two of the three Subjects." Desmond waited for a reply, be it a shout of rage or a simple act of violence. Instead, there was silence. Desmond cautiously opened his eyes and looked up. "Father?"

Desmond's father, and leader of Omega, Harvey Jermaine, sipped his wine in thought. "Despite this setback, you did well. Can I ask the reason for allowing Ellis to escape?"

"I thought he would have stayed by the girl named Elena's side. Those two have been together longer. Instead he ran like a coward, leaving both girls. I wasn't expecting it, and I was on top of the building so I had no time to capture him."

"Stand up Desmond." Harvey said, standing up himself, immaculate in his white suit.

Desmond obeyed, standing up.

"Follow me."

Desmond nodded silently. It wasn't often his father allowed him to come with him, and that meant it must be important. He didn't want to do anything to mar that.

Harvey led the way through the corridors, until they started descending down dark, yet clean, steps. Their feet clanged off metal, before hitting concrete at the bottom. Harvey continued on through the stone corridor, before coming to a large metal door. An electronic pad stood next to the door, and Harvey put his hand to the pad, where there was a faint whirring sound, before the door opened wide.

Desmond was more than surprised. He was honoured. Not even the most valuable scientists were allowed into his father's personal laboratory. It was here Harvey developed his creations and his investigations. It was also where he was storing his captives.

He could already see them, all the Half-Infected he had captured, all floating in greenish liquid in giant tubes. Numerous strands of wire and rubber tubing's covered their bodies, or in Zach Wild's case, what looked like some kind of spike coming from his wrist. Desmond thought his father would stop here, but once again surprised, Harvey led him past the Half-Infected.

Desmond couldn't contain his curiosity, and looked around in earnests. In the tubes were various stages of development of his father's plan. Small, flesh like lumps curled in a faint human position, other, full grown ones with some kind of grotesque disfigurement. Tumours across the neck, a smaller arm than needed, or even in one case an extra arm.

Harvey finally stopped, in front of two separate tubes. Desmond gasped at the contents.

"Impressive, are they not. These are my finest experiments, already completed." Harvey said in admiration.

On the left hand container was a large creature, almost a head taller than a Tank. Its jaw jutted out and its eyes were squinted. The legs were muscled, and so were the arms. Both pairs of them. This was what surprised Desmond. Underneath where the arms would usually go was another pair, although one had a spike like appendage, while the other looked like it had three fingers with claws on the ends of them. The normal arms and hands had long fingers, sharp as well. Finally, on its back were four separate tendrils, tongues, if Desmond wasn't mistaken. They were thick and grotesque, as if ripping from the creatures back.

"This is Project Goliath." Harvey said, almost smiling, which was a very big surprise. "This is what happens after carefully fusing the DNA of multiple creatures. The main frame is one of a Charge, while both top arms are that of a Tank. The hands connected to those are from a Witch. I was surprised to find a new set of arms grow out, which were fully unintended. Those tongues are of course from a Smoker. What you cannot see is that it leaps like a Hunter, spits acid much like a Spitter, and has the power of a Charger."

"Wow... just... wow..." Desmond said, practically speechless.

"And this... is Project Spiker." Harvey said, motioning to the other tube.

The figure was much more humanoid, no more than 14, by what the human host looked like. In fact, if you didn't look closely, he looked like a normal human being. The boy had black hair down to his shoulders, jeans with holes in the knees, and even a t-shirt which said "I didn't do it." The boy typically looked like a normal teenager. But then you noticed the little differences. One of his eyes was bright green, while the other was yellow. His skin was just a shade until natural. Finally, on his back and arms were faint brown... spikes? Or quills? They were around half an inch long, and somehow disguised itself on the body until you looked at it.

Comparing the Spiker to the Goliath was like comparing a Black Widow to a Lion. Both were hugely dangerous, yet completely different sizes.

"This is my very own Infected. I didn't combine any other DNA, merely constructed my own." Harvey said.

"Why... why have you shown me them?" Desmond asked in awe.

"Quite simply, because you will get to know them as your allies. Starting with your first official mission together, this is to take down Ellis Evergreen. I don't need him anymore, and I want to see the true capabilities of my creations." Harvey said, before pressing a sequence of buttons on a control panel to the right of the containers.

There was a sucking sound, before all the liquid in both containers started draining away, leaving the two creatures to land on their feet. Then, simultaneously they stood up straight and stared straight into Desmond's eyes.

"What are your commands?" The Spiker asked, causing Desmond to noticed spiked teeth.

"Just give them simple commands. They will follow you." Harvey whispered into Desmond's ear.

Desmond took a deep breath. "Okay. Goliath. Spiker. You will follow me for the time being."

"We will follow you." The Spiker said in its odd young voice, while the Goliath growled. "I have a feeling I'm going to like you two..."

**(The Spiker belongs to Apocalypse Survivor, while The Goliath is my own creation. I quite like him, but how do you lot like him, or them. Let me know, and see you next time!)**


	20. Survivors

**(Thanks to GlassSoul, Kara Meyx, bloody raptor, and Apocalypse Survivor for your reviews! Urgh... I hate exams..., hence why it's slightly late. BUT this chapter has a potential shocker (Depends if you want to believe it's real or not) READ ON!)**

Being alone felt odd, yet strangely, Gryphon was comforted by it. Almost immediately after the thought, Gryphon sighed and stared stiffly ahead of the outskirts of the city. As much as he tried to forget, Elena was in front of his mind. It was true; Gryphon had grown attached to the girl, in almost a fatherly way. He felt guilt that he ran away, but as the argument in his head went: All that would have happened would all three of them would have been taken.

Gryphon could do nothing. Zach was taken by some van with the omega logo, Elena and Mazie shot and likely dead, Jayce ran off, and Brian likely drowned in a river. He had found friends and allies. They were all gone now.

The outskirts of the city consisted of sleazy hotels, old shops which had been shut down for years. Posters peeled off of wooden telephone poles, advertising a long forgotten circus. The tall buildings were gone, merging with the distance.

By walking so much, his leg had gotten used to being forced to walk upon, and was now numb. Gryphon just wanted to get away from the city which had caused him so much trouble. The deaths of his parents, the loss of friends... the loss of loved ones...

"God damn it!" Gryphon muttered, tears falling down his cheeks. He hated crying, he didn't even mean to now. However the stress of the whole situation had caught up to Gryphon. How could one man handle everything he had to handle?

"Infected!"

The cry just made Gryphon's day that much worse. The familiar snap of a bullet caused Gryphon to jump backwards, the ground by his feet exploding into dust. Gryphon turned around to spot a woman pointing a pistol at him. "Woah! Wait, wait, wait, I'm not an Infected."

Evidently the fact that he could speak caused the woman to be surprised. "You can... talk?"

"Yeah... yes, I can... I know I look like this, but, but that's just bad luck. I'm still human, so don't shoot. I'll just walk away, so don't shoot." Gryphon said, raising his hands.

The woman walked forward, and Gryphon took a good look. She was wearing a pair of black trousers, although the left leg had been ripped off, revealing a slender pale leg. Her white vest hugged her figure, although there was a vicious scar across her belly, which she made no attempt at hiding. Finally, the woman's chocolate eyes stared out from under a black fringe of hair which reached to her shoulders. Overall the woman looked ragged and worn, and definitely suspicious. She finally came around a metre away from Gryphon, the pistol trained to his skull.

"Who are you?"

"M-My names Gryphon." Gryphon said, feeling a bead of sweat down his skull underneath his cap.

"The names Liberty." The woman, Liberty, said. "I think I'm gonna have to at least have a proper look, considering no Infected has ever spoken to us."

"Us?" Gryphon asked under Liberty's gaze.

"Yeah." Liberty nodded, before turning back to the petrol station she had come out from. Evidently she had holed up in the boarded up station. "Guys!" she called out. "He seems fine!"

A few seconds passed, before three figures came out of the station.

Gryphon waited until they stood next to Liberty to take them in.

The tallest, and the slimmest, was a tall black man. He was wearing an old basketball jersey, with shorts. There were a number of small scratches covering his face, as if something glass smashed into him.

Next to him was a man wearing what looked to be a police uniform. The blue covered in mud. His hair was short brown, and his eyes strikingly blue.

Finally there was a woman dressed in a light pink nurse's uniform, with brown hair. The hem of the uniform was ripped. Most surprising was that half her arm was missing, a bandage wrapped around the stub.

"The kid looks distraught..." The policeman said, raising an eyebrow.

'_I'm almost thirty... and I'm a kid?'_ Gryphon thought, although he didn't say a word. He waited for the group to say something. Already his luck was unexpectedly good. The few human survivors he had come across wanted to kill him because he was different. Gryphon was hoping against hope that this group was different.

"He must have been in some kind of traumatic event." The black man said slowly, his voice soothing and calm. "Just look at him."

"We need to treat him." The nurse said, nodding, her voice full of kindness.

"Woah there." Liberty said, glancing at the nurse. "We gotta make sure we trust him."

"He looks pretty trustworthy." The black man said. "Of course, we have made that mistake before."

The police man folded his arms. "As an officer, we never leave men behind. This kid... while he looks slightly... off, he is definitely not an Infected. At the very least we should bring him in and treat him."

"Agreed." The nurse said.

"I'm gonna check him up to see if he has got a weapon." Liberty said, and didn't wait for a response from her companions. She walked broadly up to Gryphon and started batting him down quite hard. When he hands reached his leg, Gryphon let of an involuntary gasp of pain.

Immediately the nurse walked forward. "Sit down." She said sternly, visibly pushing Gryphon down.

"Alice..." Liberty sighed. "I didn't finish the check."

"Its fine, Liberty." The policeman said, folding his arms. "I've seen a number of characters back before the infected, committing all sorts of crimes. I know the expressions, and this kid has none of them. He's a good sort."

"Fine." Liberty sighed, looked at Gryphon who was now sitting on the ground as Alice rolled up his trouser leg. When she got to the knife wound she gasped.

Gryphon blinked, fully looking at the wound properly for once. It was black around the edges of the knife hole, which was still open, coagulated blood inside.

"It's infected!" Alice exclaimed. "Tony, Mark, get him to the station."

As Tony and Mark grabbed a protesting Gryphon under the shoulders, Liberty looked to Alice. "Hey, where's Brian?"

"The new kid's still sleeping." Tony, the policemen, grunted.

Gryphon blinked. Something clicked in his head. He was about to say something, when Alice put a slim finger against his lips. "Shh. You need to rest and get some sleep while we treat your wound."

As if her words were magic, all the weariness of the past few days, the injuries and the emotional stress caught up to Gryphon, and he buckled in Tony and Mark's grasp, causing them to grunt as they lifted him up and helped him towards the station.


	21. Where are They?

**(Thanks to GlassSoul and Kara Medyx for your reviews! Right, so let's have some Brian, shall we? **

**Read on! **

Gryphon woke to the sound of soft singing. The words blurred in his head, but he knew that the voice was sweet and soft. For a moment he thought it was his mother all those years ago when he was a child, but he quickly remembered he was three months into the Infection. Gryphon opened his eyes to see Alice watching over him, leaning on a wall. When she spotted him waking up, she smiled.

"Good morning... Gryphon, was it?" Alice asked.

Gryphon nodded, looking around the small room. It was once a back office, although it had been converted into some kind of medical bay. A shelf of medical supplies and first aid kits stood on the wall, while posters and information sheets plastered the remainder of the walls, hiding an ugly pastel yellow colour.

Frowning, Gryphon scratched his chin. "Morning?" When he met the, it was 6 in the evening, he couldn't have been that exhausted, could he?

"Yeah. Once you stopped moving, your body caught up to you. You could of died if you continued on in the state you're in. Infected leg, sores in your mouth and on your shoulders. A couple of bruises." Alice tutted and shook her head. "It looks like you've had a fight with a Witch."

"Where are the others?" Gryphon asked, referring to newly met Liberty, Mark and Tony.

"Back outside. Liberty seems to want to talk to you proper, but I'm not allowing anyone in. Bad for your health. Also Brian seems to think he knows you, kicking up a giant fuss about was there any oddly shaped people with you. I told him there wasn't."

Gryphon heart sank, which was odd, because this Brian was almost certainly the Brian he had met and befriended. He knew he would have to explain what happened to Zach and Elena. "I got to... I got to go talk to him." Gryphon said, standing up, shaking. He realised he was dressed only his underwear, and despite the situation he felt embarrassed in front of the nurses stare.

"Your clothes were horrible so I threw them out. Covered in blood and whatnot. I wouldn't mind if it was mud, but for all we know even dried Infected blood could caused Infection" Alice said, pointing with her only arm at a pile of clothes in the corner. "We gathered Tony's cloths, as they'd most likely fit you. You got a choice so have a look."

In the end, Gryphon chose a blue button up shirt, black jeans and a new pair of trainers. He ran a hand through his hair, and for a good five minutes untangled the stubborn mess. Finally finished, Gryphon felt fresh and good as new. He also discovered a fresh bandage across the wound, which had been cleaned so it was only a thin slice in his leg.

"Thanks." Gryphon nodded the Alice. "I need to go talk to Brian, if he is who I think he is." Gryphon walked over to the door, but Alice quickly stood in front of it.

"One moment." Alice said, before tapping Gryphon's shoulder. "Look, I've seen my fair share of injuries and rashes and whatnot. Those sores you have across your shoulder and mouth, and not to mention your fingers which seemed to have been sharpened, I've only seen that combination once before. That was in a Hunter." Alice paused and watched as Gryphon sighed. "I know you're not completely Infected, otherwise you would have turned in the night. You've retained your speech and your mind. What I really want to know is what are you?"

Gryphon looked into Alice's eyes, before closing his own and taking a deep breath. "Look, can you keep everything I say to you a secret, only between me and you?" Gryphon asked.

"Sure." Alice said without even a second to think. "Back at Mercy Hospital in Pennsylvania, I was a nurse, as you can see. Just with my other arm. I'm used to patient confidentiality. Even now, when most of my patients are most likely dead, I wouldn't give any information to a stranger. Your my patient, so therefore everything you say to me will remain with me."

"Well... The truth is..." Gryphon mentally prepared himself for getting kicked out, or more likely, shot. "I have been Infected. I don't know how or why it happened, but I somehow turned halfway into a Hunter. I can jump like a Hunter, and I look somewhat like a Hunter. I can still talk, still think, and still retain any and all memories I've ever had."

For a minute there was no sound. Alice stared at Gryphon. Obviously she had never encountered this type of situation before.

Finally she nodded. "I see why you want that to be kept a secret." Alice once again looked straight into Gryphon's eyes. "I think it would be best for you to tell the others. You don't have to, but I feel it will make them more comfortable if they know why you look like you do."

"But they'll shoot me." Gryphon said, folding his arms. "I saw the look Liberty got when she saw me. She even thought I was an Infected."

Alice grabbed Gryphon's shoulder, her fingers clenching into his skin. "As far as I'm concerned, you just like me, just like any person whose disabled or missing a limb. Just because we look different, doesn't we are. Trust me, I'll make sure the others don't harm you. They shouldn't even try though."

"Even so... I'm not sure I'll tell them just ye-"

Gryphon was cut off by an angry voice.

"Oi! Alice, can I come in or do I have to kick this damn door down! Open up!"

Alice sighed and shrugged at Gryphon. "All right Brian, come in then."

The door burst open, showing a somewhat bedraggled, nervous, and angry Brian Christy.

Gryphon couldn't believe that it was actually Brian, couldn't believe it was actually –

Before Gryphon even knew what was happening, Brian lunged forward and planted a fist straight into Gryphon's face, causing a shriek from Alice. The punch had so much force behind it that Brian hit against the bed and flipped over, crashing to the floor.

Brian grabbed the bed and literally through it across the room with a clatter, before grabbing Gryphon's collar and lifting him into the air, his face twisted up in fury.

"Where is Zach! Where is Elena! WHERE ARE THEY!" Brian yelled, his usual composed self completely thrown out of the window. "Evergreen, tell me right now where they are, or god help me I will-"

"Brian, stop it!" Alice exclaimed, grabbing Brian's shoulder and pulling him back with surprising strength for a woman of her stature. "Don't-"

"Don't what?" Brian yelled, almost looking crazed, his hair askew. "I am pretty much entitled to ask where my friends are!"

"What the hell is going on?" Liberty stood in the doorway, flanked by Mark and Tony looking panicked and worried.

Brian ignored them and stared straight at Gryphon, who had wiped a sliver of blood from his mouth. He didn't look angry though, rather sad.

"Where are they?" Brian asked slowly, trying to reign in his emotions.

"Brian..." Gryphon said quietly, looking to the floor. "I'm... I'm so sorry..."

The words hit Brian like a train. He stumbled back, his hand to his mouth, staring at Gryphon with wide eyes. "No... no way... no they aren't dead... they can't be..."

"No, they aren't dead." Gryphon said, shaking his head. "They're... well, let me explain from the moment you went off the roof."

**XXX**

A good distance away from the building the survivors where in, the Spiker and Goliath stood, looking vicious in their own ways. In front of them stood Desmond.

"Targets acquired." Spiker said, lifting his hand.

"Let us go." Desmond said, walking forward. "Let's see the true extent of your abilities.


	22. Peace in Death

**(Thanks to wolfgal-leah, Kara Medyx, and Immortal Standards for your reviews! Hope I've done this chapter, and resulting event, justice. Read on!**

Throughout Gryphon's story, Brian remained silent. Now sitting with his back against the wall, he stared up at Gryphon.

"So... Zach's been... kidnapped, and... Elena was shot? Could be dead?" Brian repeated quietly.

"Brian, I'm sorry." Gryphon said for what seemed the twentieth time.

Brian stood up. "Don't be. I should be sorry for hitting you. I was out of hand. I had no idea where anyone was or what happened. I was almost drowned by the time Liberty pulled me out." Brian smiled thinly at Liberty, who was hanging by the door with Alice, while the two men were on look-out.

"Would should we do now then?" Gryphon asked.

"We stay here until your leg heals up completely." Brian said, before looking to Liberty. "Assuming that's okay with you?"

"Fine by me Brian. As long as you don't bring trouble to our –"

A loud BOOM and resulting explosion cut Liberty off as the wall smashed into little bits. Brian managed to catch Alice while Gryphon and Liberty looked at the smoke and fire in a mix of confusement and fear.

"What the hell..." Liberty muttered, before something caught her eye. Before anyone could stop her, Liberty ran to the charred and blackened figure that was Tony, the police man. "Tony, my god... what happened?"

"G-g-get... out..." Tony managed to say through gasping breaths. "M-monsters... not I-I-Infected..." At that Tony let out a sigh, before he fell back limp in Liberty's arms.

"Tony..." Liberty bit her lip, before standing up while simultaneously pulling an Assault Rifle from her back. "Where are the sons-of-bitches!"

Evidently the gas pumps outside had exploded, which caused a huge smoke plume covering most everything in sight.

"Here." Alice said, shakily handing Brian a pistol from her hip.

"What about you?" Brian asked in concern, while keeping his eyes trained on the black cloud.

"I'm no good with guns." Alice said, her face pale.

"What the fuck... is that...?" Liberty suddenly exclaimed as a huge hulking figure walked out of the crowd. If the tongues from its back, jutting jaw, and sheer size wasn't enough, the fact half of Mark was hanging from its mouth's drove Liberty to the edge. "Mark! Jesus Christ mother fucker! I'll kill you!"

Liberty let off a torrent of bullets, which hit into the figure, which seemed unaffected. The Goliath looked at Liberty, before slamming a tongue into her ribcage, throwing her sideways where she crumpled against the floor.

"Alice, stay here." Brian commanded quickly, before turning to Gryphon. "Come on, let's just take this asshole down."

"Sure thing." Gryphon said, before leaping in the air. Thankfully it caught Goliath off guard, and Gryphon slammed into his face with his shoulder. The Goliath stumbled back slightly as Gryphon hooked his arms around the Goliath's neck, keeping a good hold.

"Let go!" Brian suddenly exclaimed, and Gryphon dropped just as a tongue shot towards his back. With a sound of flesh being ripped apart, the tongue entered through the Goliath's chest instead of Brian.

Gryphon panted slightly, looking at Brian. "That was much easier... than... damn..." Gryphon watched dumbly as the Goliath simply pulled its tongue from its chest, and roared up to the skies.

Brian quickly pulled the pistol up and let off a few shots at the Goliath, but it merely ignored as a human would a bit of dust and walked forwards towards Brian.

"Gryphon, grab Alice and get the hell out of here." Brian said, before he was pushed out of the way by Gryphon who actually looked angry.

"Don't be an idiot Brian! On the off chance Elena is alive, she will need you right there! So I am not going to let you sacrifice yourself like that, you hear me!" Gryphon yelled, before jumping out of the way of the Goliath.

"Why would she need me right there?" Brian yelled out, after shooting the Goliath another time before the pistol clicked. "Shit!"

"Are you blind!" Gryphon yelled out, before leaping into the air and once more crashing into the Goliath's head. Gryphon blinded the Goliath by straddling his face, and started scraping at the back of the beasts head with his claws.

Brian concentrated on Gryphon attacked the Goliath, but a sharp scream and then silence caught him off guard. Brian whipped around to see none other than Desmond clutching Alice, whose neck had clearly been broken. Standing next to him was the Spiker. "No... Alice, god... no!"

"Kill him!" Desmond commanded with a sick grin, pointing at Brian. The Spiker stepped forward, before turning on his step and regarding Desmond with a blank look.

"I am going to have to say no."

Desmond's eyebrows rose high. "Excuse me! Are you... are you disobeying me!"

The Spiker shrugged. "I guess I am... _sir. _Oh, and by the way, the names Tyson." The Spiker, or rather Tyson, suddenly punched Desmond in the face, knocking the man to the floor. Tyson kicked Desmond in the head, before repeating the action so hard it knocked the man out. He quickly turned to Brian, who was still looking on in shock. "Might want to go pick up the other girl." Liberty, "I'll help your friend.

Brian nodded and ran to Liberty, while Tyson turned to see Gryphon thrown hard to the ground. Tyson raised his arm, and what looked like spikes shot from his arm, embedding them in the Goliath's face. The Goliath roared and swatted at Tyson, but he jumped upwards, landing on the hand and running up his arm. Tyson's arm seemed to get even spikier, and like a bat he swung his arm into the Goliath's face. The Goliath's face started bleeding a torrent, before he fell backwards, landing with a slam on the floor.

Tyson quickly ran over to Gryphon. "Hey, you okay?"

Gryphon raised his head and looked to Tyson. "Who're you?"

"A friend."

"Gryphon! You okay?" Brian asked, coming over with an unconscious Liberty in his arms.

"I'm fine." Gryphon said, finally standing up. "Jesus, I'm hurting like a bitch." Gryphon clutched a new cut on his stomach. "That guy bites."

"Let's go." Tyson said hurriedly. "I'll explain all I can, but we got to get away from the Goliath."

"One moment." Gryphon put his hand up to stop Tyson. "I'm not going anywhere until I know I can trust you."

"I saved your life, is that not enough?" Tyson exclaimed irritably. "Now let's get going before-"

A splash of blood suddenly went over Tyson's face, although he wasn't injured. A line of blood also went over Brian's neck, but he wasn't injured. Instead, Brian was staring with shock at the tentacle which was thrust straight through Gryphon's stomach.

Gryphon let out a slight gurgle as blood erupted from his lips.

Tyson quickly swiped his clawed hand across the tentacle, cutting it off, before running over to the Goliath which had managed to get up. Tyson let out a shout and stabbed his claw straight through the back of the Goliath's head, driving him to the floor.

Brian didn't care, however, rather opting to stare at Gryphon with his mouth hanging slightly ajar. "Gryphon..." he managed to utter, feeling sick.

Gryphon didn't reply, merely put a hand to his stomach, his lower face and chest now covered in blood from his mouth.

Brian quickly but carefully put Liberty onto the ground before reaching over to Gryphon, just in time to catch him as the half-Hunter fell down.

"Gryphon!" Brian exclaimed.

"Br-Brian..." Gryphon managed to utter, his face pale.

"Gry... Ellis, don't talk. Come on, don't do that. Save your energy, we'll heal you." Brian said, looking at the stomach wound in horrifying truth.

"Brian... I-I'm... done for..." Gryphon said, looking up to Brian with wide eyes. "Y-you're not..."

"Ssh... please, don't talk."

Gryphon coughed, blood spraying from his mouth. "I got t-to Brian... A-Answer me... one thing..."

"What... I'll do anything, what is it?"

"Find... Elena... f-find her... and treat her... well." Gryphon's breath was slowing down. "El-Elena loves you, Brian... she does... you ch-changed her life..." Gryphon suddenly grabbed Brian's collar, dragging the human so they were face to face. "You better live up t-to all her expectations... and you l-love her straight back!" Gryphon let off a wheezy breath, before his eyes went blank and he slumped in Brian's arms.

Brian closed his eyes, laying Gryphon carefully on the ground, before closing his eyelids in respect. "I will Ellis. I will find those sick son-of-a-bitches who got her, and I will kill them all." Brian took a deep breath, before placing two fingers on Ellis "Gryphon" Evergreen's forehead. "May death grant you peace."


	23. The Avenger

**Thanks to Kara Medyx, Apocalypse Survivor, GlassSoul, Immortal Standards, and wolfgal-leah for your reviews! Bit of a filler chapter per say, just doing some of the different views. Read on! **

"Once again..." Harvey said, pinching between his eyebrows. "Once again you have... failed me!" Harvey looked up, glaring at his son, Desmond. "It was... a simple... simple job, and you failed! Explain yourself!"

Desmond gulped. "You can hardly blame me, father. They managed to surprise me."

"Surprise you!" Harvey clenched his fist so hard the wine glass broke, shards of glass falling to the floor. "You have been trained in martial arts, nothing could surprise you! You even had Spiker and Goliath with you!"

"It's Spiker's fault!" Desmond exclaimed. "He betrayed us; he knocked me out and even killed your Goliath! It's your faulty experimenting which caused me to fail."

Harvey suddenly backhanded his son, knocking him to the ground. "You dare... dare blame me again, and I'll kill you!" Harvey took a deep breath. "Right... I got to do some work on Goliath. You... I want you to go to them, and this time KILL them. After all, I got no use for that Brian or Liberty, and Spiker betrayed me."

"Wh-What about Evergreen?" Desmond asked, massaging his face.

"Apparently Goliath killed him at the last moment."

"Really? When I woke up I didn't see a body."

"That's because you are a fool! Now go!"

**XXX**

Brian was kneeling down next to Liberty in front of four graves. Only one contained a body.

"I can't... I can't believe it." Liberty said, rubbing her red eyes, although she hadn't actually cried. "Alice... Mark and Tony... why them? What did they do to deserve that? What did they do?"

Brian put a hand on Liberty's shoulders. "I don't think any survivor deserves to die in these times. People like Gryphon should be alive; they should be thriving right now. Instead people like that guy commanding the two Infected are living. Questions are always asked... why should people as corrupted as him be allowed to live?" Brian stood up, staring at the skies. "Why do innocents need to die? I just do not know. Mark and Tony... two amazing men from what I saw of them. They accepted me. Alice was one of the sweetest woman I've seen in the current times. Gryphon suffered so many hardships... not one of them deserved to die." Brian turned away from the graves, looking away from Liberty. "But-"

"We have to let it go." Liberty finished for Brian, sweeping her fringe from her eyes. "I'm not sure I can."

"You're putting words in my mouth." Brian set with a slight smile, although it didn't reach his eyes. "I was going to say, but before I let their deaths go, I'm going to take down this so called 'Omega' operation. That guy had it, and I've heard of the van and the tokens. After I finally avenged Gryphon's death, and found my friends, then, and only then, will I let this whole situation go."

"No time like the present then." Liberty said, standing up herself with a grunt. "We got to get some firepower, though."

"Yes. And some body armour. If this organizations legit, then they are going to packing some serious firepower." Brian said.

"I happen to know just the right place."

Brian and Liberty turned around to see Tyson walking towards them. "I've made sure we're not being followed. At least not on foot, anyway. They are going to come after us soon though. Omega aren't going to just let us go scot free."

"What about this 'right place'?" Brian asked.

"It's an old armoury, used to be used by Omega, it's quite a way away, likely a day on foot."

Brian stroked his chin. "How long is a 'day'? 24 hours or what?"

"No. If we wait until early in the morning, we leave then, we'll be able to make it just before night falls."

"All right, good. Let's find some kind of shelter; theres a number of scattered buildings around here, hole up until say... 6 in the morning. Get some rest. Then we'll leave for this armoury. Sounds like a good plan. Soon enough, we'll avenge the deaths of our friends."

**XXX**

Zach's eyes snapped open, looking out to a haze of green. For a moment he tried to scream, but something obstructive was on his mouth. For a brief moment he thought he couldn't breathe, until he saw the bubbles rising up in the green liquid. It appeared he was wearing some kind of respirator, thick tubes going out left and right, going up to the ceiling.

Zach finally looked outside the container and started writhing, which was rather hard to do considering his great mass was squished up against the sides. In similar containers stood figures in their underwear, with similar masks. There was a man with growths and some kind of tongue floating in the water, a woman with long claws and glowing red eyes, and another smaller girl with long claws and glowing eyes.

However what most caught Zach's eyes was the figure of Elena, her eyes closed. His eyes widen in surprising fury, to himself at least. Zach's muscles bulged for a moment, before the glass cracked. The crack grew into spider webs, extending further out before it completely collapsed.

The force of liquid forced Zach out and to the floor, where the respirator fell off. Zach gasped in pain, glass cutting into his legs.

For a few moments, Zach took deep breaths, before realising he had finally got out.

"Phew... man... that was close..." Zach breathed, getting up to his feet.

"Indeed. It appears we underestimated your strength."

Zach turned around to see Harvey. "What are you doing with me? What are you doing with the others!"

"Utopia Zach." Harvey reminded, before he raised his hand, where a pistol sat. "Now go back to sleep." Harvey pressed the trigger, and instead of a bullet, a dart shot out, embedding itself in Zach's large neck.

For a moment Zach seemed unaffected, lunging forward with his hands, before the drug in the dart kicked in, and he collapsed to the ground.

Harvey bent down, smiling. "Your time will come soon my boy, as soon as your fool of a friend tries to attack me."


	24. Lab Rat

**(Thanks to numb3r ei8ht for your review! All right, read on!**

_Liberty Blake had her back against the wall, sweat falling down her face. Armed with only a pistol and her wits, Liberty was understandably nervous. The safe house was on the opposite side of a park. Only problem was the fact that the park was filled with Infected. _

_ "Come on Liberty." Liberty muttered to herself. "You've done worse. Remember that time you were covered in boomer bile? This is nothing. Do it!" Liberty another deep breath, before taking a run. About five seconds after she took off, something thick and rubbery grabbed her throat and pulled her back._

_ Trapped in the Smoker's embrace, Liberty tried to wrestle the limb to no avail. Suddenly she was hoisted into the air, putting even more pressure onto her neck. A sick image invaded her mind, herself hanging on a noose like in medieval times, her neck broken. Before the image could become reality there was a tug on her leg, before a shot ran out and Liberty tumbled to the ground._

_ Rather than hitting the floor, Liberty fell into large hands, which carefully lowered her to the ground. _

_ "You gotta be careful!" Mark Simmons said, wiping his brow. "Thank gods we got to you in time."_

_ Liberty couldn't believe it. Another survivor? "L-Liberty..." _

_ "Mark. Now let's get you to the safe house." Mark said, grabbing hold of Liberty's shoulders and pushing her towards the safe house while expertly fighting off Infected. _

Liberty woke up suddenly, her eyes squeezed shut. '_Please let that be reality. I'm just sitting here with Alice talking to me and Mark and Tony talking to each other. They aren't dead.'_

"Liberty?"

Liberty sighed and opened her eyes, facing Brian. "Hey."

"You all right?"

"Well, my friends were all killed and I'm having nightmares. If that fits your definition of 'all right', then yes, I am." Liberty said.

Brian frowned. "Sorry. It's hard, but we gotta deal with it." Brian straightened up, motioning to Tyson, who had a backpack on his shoulder. "It's 6. We better get going if we are gonna make the place by nightfall."

The view sporadic appearances of Infected were quickly dispatched by Brian and Tyson while Liberty kept look-out. The city limits turned to straight roads and fields of desert and wisps of grass. Tyson led the group, his eyes constantly facing a certain direction.

As midday hit, the group of three hit the edge of a large hill, the road turning away. Tyson didn't stop; rather he climbed down the steep hill, finally hitting the bottom. Leading them though the wilderness of dry trees and grass.

"It's odd..." Liberty finally said, wiping a bead of sweat from her hair.

"What's odd?" Brian questioned.

"The fact that I think I'm more scared than when the Infected were here." Liberty motioned with her hands. "The city started with a cesspool of Infected, but I've noticed they've gone down in number faster and faster. It was very prominent the last few days, with hardly any Infected."

"It only makes sense." Tyson spoke up while still walking. "The Infected cannot reproduce, and they deteriorate much faster. In only two to three months the body will collapse on itself. The origins of the Infection actually started as a cure."

"What?" Liberty raised an eyebrow. "A cure?"

"Yes. The Infection, or rather the 'Green Flu' was in actuality a cure for cancer. At least it was supposed to be. Something went wrong with the production, and the main scientist contracted the typical symptoms of the Infected. Hours later he turned. Thus started the first strain of the Infection."

"Why couldn't they contain it?" Brian asked.

"It spread at a much faster rate than anticipated. It's your typical 'zombie' scenario. One person get infected, they infect someone else, and then each of them infect something else. The virus multiplies and multiplies. Soon enough the science lab was overrun. The gates split and the Infection got out into the wide world. Carriers not realise they were carrying went overseas to escape, which caused the Infection to spread to Asia and Europe. Now, three months later everything is practically gone." Tyson took a breath. "In a way it's good. If the Infection dies out naturally, then the remaining humans have a chance to remake humankind. If that will work, god only knows. We might be the only humans left for all we know. At least you two are. I don't count for human." Tyson said, looking slightly sad.

"How do you know so much?" Brian asked, carefully treading over a log.

Tyson actually stopped, shading his eyes. "My parents were scientists. I hated them with a passion. They had no time for their son, only wanting to make him into one of their lab rats. I was born in Pennsylvania for that sole purpose. A lab rat." Tyson grit his teeth, shaking with anger. "I wouldn't have it though. When I turned ten I escaped as they started research into their new cure for cancer." Tyson looked up. "That's right. My parents were the creators, and the cause, of this whole Infection."

Brian and Liberty were silent for a minute, before Brian spoke up. "Is that why you are as you are? Half-Infected?"

Tyson shook his head. "For five years I lived on the streets. I knew my city inside and out. However I was bitten on the second day of the invasion. My parent's best friend, my godfather, found me as I was dying. The same godfather started the organization, Omega, and put me in a test tube. He used me like my parents did, creating me as a unique Special Infected. As a pawn for him." Tyson took another deep breath. "But enough about me. We're here."

Tyson pointed ahead. If he hadn't pointed it out, both Brian and Liberty would've missed it. The large bunker-like construction was a mix of yellows and sand, making camouflage in the area. The door was open. "We should go careful. That door shouldn't be open."


	25. Plan of Action

**(Sorry for the delay. Problems on my end. Thanks to wolfgal-leah and Saxvalent-Plight of the Light for your reviews! Good some news! I know we are not there yet, but the end of the story will signify the start of the next. There'll be a new story after this. This is because the rest of your created characters I can't really fit into this story, and the ending is too ending like to be the end of an arc so say. Keep that in mind that your characters will come properly next story. Aaanywho read on!) **

Tyson slowly walked forward towards the open door, signifying for Liberty and Brian to keep silent. His quills grew in size, essentially making him a walking pin cushion. Tyson took a step into the base, looking around. It was dark with cobwebs starting to form in the corners.

"Is there anyone here?" Liberty whispered.

As if in response, there was a faint sniffle, which turned into a sob.

"Witch..." Brian hissed.

"Come on." Tyson walked through the small hallway into the main room. Outlining the walls were steel chairs, facing inwards to a simple metal tables. "Let's split up. If you see the Witch, don't alarm it."

The room had three other rooms, at the back, left and right. The three companions took a room each.

Liberty went into some kind of locker room combined with showers. At the back were open showers, as well as closed showers for females. Three toilet stools stood in the corner. Overall, there were around twenty lockers. The crying however had gotten quieter, so Liberty assumed the Witch wasn't in here. A sudden tapping drew her attention. She walked over to a line of lockers, slowly locating the tapping noise coming from one of the lockers.

Liberty placed her ear against the locker, trying to figure it out. The tapping suddenly stopped.

Liberty frowned and grabbed the door handle just as it burst open. A figure leaped out of the locker, tackling into Liberty. Liberty rolled backwards expertly and kicked the figure off of her, spinning to her feet and pulling her remaining weapon, a pistol, out and pointing at the figure.

The figure was actually a man with wavy hair. Although he looked pale and sick.

Liberty lowered the pistol slightly. "Who're you?"

"Gargh..." The man snarled, backing into the wall. "AAAHHH!" Liberty watched in sick amazement as the man raised his hand, which seemed to be growing. The fingers grew longer, ending in spikes. The man tried moving, but fell forward onto the floor, his hair casting a shadow over his hair. His sneakers ripped open, revealing sharp toes. The man flipped his head up, revealing glowing red eyes. He leaped back at Liberty with extra strength.

Liberty crashed back first into a locker as what could have been a Hunter snarled at her. She pushed it back and raised her pistol, but the Hunter flicked his arm, the pistol flying out of her hands. Liberty cursed and raised her fists, ready for the Hunters attack.

The Hunter leaped again, but Liberty was ready. She rolled to the side, hooking the pistol's barrel with her foot and kicking up into the air just as the Hunter turned. It hit him straight in the jaw as Liberty lunged forward and grabbed the pistol, pressing the trigger. The bullet hole entered just above his mouth and blew a hole out the back of the head. The Hunter fell twitching to the floor, just as the door banged open.

Liberty swirled around to be met with Brian and Tyson.

"What's the shooting!" Brian exclaimed, to look at the Hunter's body. "Oh."

"It... it just changed..." Liberty said, wiping her brow.

Tyson narrowed his eyes. "Just changed?"

"He... came out of the locker, but then he changed into that... that Hunter." Liberty was shaken. She had never seen an actual transformation before. She always assumed it was a long process.

"Not good." Tyson walked over and kneeled down, looking at the dead Hunter. "What... this is full stage. But if he just transformed... not possible. Transformation takes stages. You would turn into a general Infected. If you fit aspects, you would turn into a special Infected." Tyson turned back to Liberty. "He just turned like that, right?"

Liberty nodded.

Tyson cursed. "Omega has been doing more and more. Creating Infected, adjusting Infection rates... Damn Harvey's Utopia!"

"Utopia?" Brian questioned. "What's that?"

"Harvey Jermaine's ulterior goal." Tyson said. "He wants to create an army of Infected, essentially enslaving them. He wants to be the King of his own egocentrical world. Harvey does not care who dies in the process." Tyson took a breath, and turned to Brian. "Look. I was... holding some information, and I think its better you know now."

"What is it?"

"I told you your friends were in Omega's building, and I didn't know where they were. This is not true. I know where they are."

Brian suddenly grabbed Tyson collar, surprising the young Infected. "You lied! Where are they!"

"I never lied. Just didn't tell you. I thought you would want to take the night to get a hold of yourself." Tyson said, pulling away from Brian's grip and glaring at him. "Guess you still haven't. Well, anyway your friends are in Harvey's personal laboratory where he... made me... they are in test tubes..."

"What! What is that asshole doing?" Brian asked, nostrils flaring. "What's he doing to my friends!"

"Experiments, as far as I can tell." Tyson said. "He wants to turn to his will. He wants them to be the 'Generals' so to say of his final Infected army. Imagine it. The Infected would be programmed to follow their own brethren, while any humans who feel the need to join the cause could relate to the human aspects of the Half-Infected. This is why Harvey's wants one of each Half-Infected. He will create special Infected themselves."

Brian stroked back his hair, shaking his head. "Zach... Elena... no..." Brian looked up with a wild look in his eyes. "I am not going to let that happen! Not to my friends!" he turned and went to stomp out of the room, when Liberty gently grabbed his arm, causing him to turn.

"Not to be rude..." Liberty smiled slightly. "But we have no idea where the base is, or indeed how to get to it. Don't be brash. I want revenge too, but you can't just go anywhere and hope you come up with it."

"She's right." Tyson said. "We will not be able to get to the base by land. It's too well-defended."

"What! So it's hopeless in the end!" Brian once again made a grab for Tyson, but the Half-Infected took a step back.

"Of course not. We merely need to take a different route. There are two we could take. One, we can go by sea. However that would take too long to actually get to a working boat. That leaves the air. This is much simpler."

"Simpler?" Brian raised his eyebrows. "You expecting a helicopter to just come to us and pick us up!"

"In a way." Tyson said, letting off a rare smile. "Harvey will be sending Desmond to us again. Without the Goliath I'd assume Harvey would want to do some work on him. Anyway he and whatever troops that will be in the helicopter will come to us."

"But we haven't got the firepower." Liberty frowned.

"Hey. I wasn't getting attacked by Infected." Tyson said. "I found the armoury. Got everything we could possibly want to get the helicopter, and to take down the base from the ground up. Rocket Launcher, AK-47, grenades, C4, you name it."

"Silly question..." Liberty looked to Brian. "You took care of the Witch where you were, right?"

"Hmm?" Brian glanced at Liberty, before he realised what that implied. "Oh shit."

"You didn't find the Witch?" Tyson exclaimed loudly, causing a loud shriek. The ceiling seemed to collapse, a metal plate slamming Tyson in the head and knocking him clean out. The Witch's red eyes glared straight at Liberty and Brian.

"This is going to be... fun." Brian sighed.

The Witch shrieked and charged.


	26. Beginning of the End

**Thanks to Saxvalent-Plight of the Light and GlassesDude for the reviews. Right, not so sure about this chapter, but it's up to you folks to decide if it's good or not. Read on!) **

Brian raised his arms up as the Witch charged, only to get those slashed creating nice gouges. The Witch straddled Brian and started to swipe at him with her claws, further injuring his arms. Finally Liberty acted, smashing the butt of the pistol on the back of the Witch's head. The Witch shrieked and turned around with such vigour she slapped the pistol out of Liberty's hands, creating a nice gouge just below her thumb. Liberty gasped in pain, but then the Witch was pushed into the open locked the Hunter was in, and Brian slammed it shut.

"Why didn't you shoot it?" Brian asked as the locker rattled.

"I didn't want to be close."

"Oh! Oh, that makes it fine. I could've died!" Brian rolled his eyes and quickly grabbed the pistol, pointing it at the locker. "Open the door, and I'll shoot her."

Liberty hesitantly nodded, going to grab the locker when the door burst open, slamming Brian in the face. The Witch shrieked even more and grabbed Liberty's arm, before the Witch's head moved sideways slightly. It stopped moving, staring blankly into Liberty's eyes. Liberty could only stare at the spike going through one ear and out the other of the Witch. The Witch finally fell back, twitching ever so slightly.

"Still should have shot her." Tyson said, rubbing his head slightly. "Brian, you okay?"

Brian nodded, clutching his nose. "Fine and dandy. Now what was it with the weapons you were talking about?"

About 30 seconds later, Brian nodded, staring at the wall. It was filled with weapons ranging from the Colt Python .357 Revolver to the Barrett M90 capable of blowing holes through steel. Also included were a box of simple Frag Grenades to Flash Bangs and Smoke Grenades. On a rack were varying sizes of combat knifes, another box, this time filled with first aid kits; A wall was dedicated to ammo for all the weapons, handily labelled. Finally there was an US Army issued M72 L.A.W, other known as a Light Anti-Armour Weapon, other known as a rocket launcher.

"Wow." Brian said simply. "That is... quite a haul."

"Stock up." Tyson said, before stepping on one of the boxes and grabbing the LAW, slinging it around his back per the strap. Tyson also grabbed a first aid kit and a shotgun, more specifically a Franchi Spas-12 Semi-Automatic Shotgun.

Brian looked around for a moment, before strapping a combat knife to his thigh, grabbing a Colt Python and putting it on his other thigh. He grabbed two first aid kits, putting them onto his back and grabbing three grenades, putting them on a strap and making them go from shoulder to hip. Finally he grabbed a Micro Uzi 9mm, hanging in his hand. He turned to Liberty to ask what she wanted, to find she had already got her weapons.

She had a combat knife strapped to each thigh, one first-aid pack and her pistol with extra ammo. Finally, hanging over her back was Barrett M90, the gun able to blow through steel.

Brian shrugged and turned back to Tyson, who had filled a backpack full of ammo. "This is definitely a stock-up."

Tyson nodded. "The base was never actually used. Omega planned too, but then Harvey got distracted by his experiments, ordering the soldiers to stay at base. So we got full stock."

"Definitely seems we got enough to get this base." Brian said. "Now let's wait for that helicopter, take it out, and get this Harvey on his knees."

"It's not as easy as just that." Tyson said, looking seriously at Liberty and Brian. "I need to know one thing. Are you willing to kill a human being? Someone who likely as a family, has children. Will you be able to snuff out a life just like that?"

"Yes." Brian said with a slight pause. "Yes. To save Zach, to save Elena, to save the rest and avenge Gryphon. I can do it."

"Good." Tyson looked to Liberty, who found it rather odd that a 15-year old was taking control. "What 'bout you?"

Liberty took a few minutes, thinking it over. But remembering what the Goliath did to her friends, and what Desmond did to Alice... that made it for her. "The others died before their time. Not by Infect without minds, but rather by the command of this 'Harvey'. I can kill to get to him."

"Good." Tyson propped his shotgun onto his arm. "Now all we gotta do is wait for the helicopter."

As if in reply, the sound of whirring was heard. Liberty, Tyson and Brian looked up to see a helicopter rising over the forest, getting louder and louder as it approached. It was a transport helicopter, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois. It wasn't the biggest transport for the military, but considering the fact it was Omega's helicopter, they couldn't afford to get bigger helicopters.

Finally the Bell hovered over the three's current location, causing trees to whip around in a frenzy. Four sets of ropes dropped down, followed by four black-clad figures, they touched down, pointing machine guns at the group of three. Finally another black-clad figure touched down, who turned out to be Desmond Jermaine.

"So, so, so..." Desmond grinned. "You got yourselves, armed, eh? Look. I gotta capture you kids, so just come peacefully."

"You know what..." Brian took a step forward, fury on his face. "You're 'Omega'. I don't care what it is. I don't care if the leader is the President of the fuckin' United States. You took my friends. You're... testing on them. I will get rid of you, and I will get my friends once more."

"Do you know something... Brian, is it? Yes." Desmond smirked. "You're friends. They're on a switch, per say. If my father even sees me harmed, then he'll press that swi-"

"He's bluffing." Tyson said, causing Desmond to frown. "Harvey cares little for his kid. Harvey wouldn't stop his experiments at all for his son. Also, I highly doubt Harvey wants us. I betrayed him, and you two are humans. What's your true motive, Desmond?"

"You know what, I don't give a crap!" Brian said, raising the Uzi and letting off rounds in Desmond's direction.

"Shit!" Tyson cursed, diving to the side and grabbing Liberty as bullets came their way from the soldiers. Brian hid behind a tree, swirling around and managing to take down the first of the men.

Tyson started sneaking around the back, unbeknownst to anyone.

Brian ran forward as bullets smacked against the trees, breaking the bark. He let off another spurt of bullets, hitting another in the leg. The man screamed in pain, falling to the floor. Brian grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin out, throwing it down towards a group of men.

"Grenade!" one of the men shouted, and they made a run for it. The grenade exploded in a splatter of mud and bark. Two men were caught from the shrapnel, falling to the ground in blood.

"You're trained men damn you, how are you getting beaten!" Desmond yelled, ducking as Uzi rounds shattered the tree behind him. Desmond responded by firing back with a machine gun.

Brian cursed, ducking behind the tree.

"Got you!" Brian heard the man's voice and turned around to see a machine gun pointed in his face. "Right. You drop your weapon n-"

The man's head suddenly jolted backwards, a gaping hole through one side of his head. He slumped to the ground. Brian looked where the bullet had come from and saw Liberty in a tree with her rifle. Brian indicated his thanks and turned around to see Desmond's machine gun sticking out behind a tree. Brian raised his pistol, and let off three shots. They hit the machine gun, flipping it out of a surprised Desmond's hands. Brian ran forward to be clothes lined by Desmond who turned around. Brian crashed to the ground, only to get kicked in the stomach by Desmond.

"Brian. You WILL come with me!" Desmond said, grabbing Brian's neck with a hard grip, pulling him up. Another shot rang out, and Desmond's arm exploded in blood and gore, coating Brian in the red stuff. Desmond screamed in pain, backing away. He suddenly shut up as Brian pressed the barrel of his pistol under his chin.

"Desmond." Brian said, anger plastered on his face. "You are scum. Plain and simple. You kill for the fun of it. You don't care of human life."

Desmond smirked again. "You kill me, you kill your friends! My father will know, and he'll unplug 'em! It would be your fault!"

"Shut it!" Brian said, pressing the trigger.

Desmond was killed instantly by the bullet going through his brain. Now missing practically half of his head, Desmond fell backwards.

"You okay?"

Brian felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Liberty. "Fine... fine."

"Brian! Liberty!"

The voice on the microphone turned their heads upwards towards the helicopter, to see Tyson waving at them.

"I've dealt with the driver. Climb up on the rope and get on. We're gonna take down Omega."


	27. Arrive and Destroy

**(Thanks to wolfgal-leah, and Saxvalent-Plight of the Light for your reviews! Here it is, the start of the Omega infiltration. *Cracks knuckles for the hopefully awesome following chapters*. Here... we... go! Read on! **

The helicopter whirled in the air, expertly piloted by Tyson who somehow knew how to drive the mechanical beast. In the back, Brian and Liberty were checking on stock and firepower, finding that there were other first aid kits and ammo boxes in the back of the helicopter. While Liberty sported only a small bandage around her thumb from the witch, Brian had his arms bandaged from the large gouges, although he didn't care.

Brian's face with confident yet slightly nervous. He was carefully putting ammo into one of the backpacks, mostly filling it with machine-gun ammo for himself, having switched his Uzi for a machine-gun. However there were also shotgun shells and an extra grenade which Brian slipped into his pouch.

After he was finished, he put it next to two other backpacks, one for each member of the small group. Brian would be carrying the ammo, while Liberty would carry the one filled with six emptied out first aid kits so it essentially made on big one. Tyson's backpack carried some extra weapons in case they ran out of ammo.

"This is it." Liberty said, sitting on her haunches. "Have to tell you right now, a couple of days ago I never would have thought I'd be on my way to take down a big-ass company."

"I hear you." Brian nodded. "Your group was nice. You better avenge their deaths nice and well."

"It's not about avenging!" Tyson put out, turning slightly in his seat. "While the main objective is getting your friends, we would do well to destroy this company completely."

"I have no qualms about that." Brian said. "Get my friends, and then destroy Omega. Sounds like one hell of a plan."

Confidence slowly transformed into nervousness. Liberty had pulled out a small book and was reading the same page again and again. Brian was pacing around, absent-mindly smacking the butt of his machine gun in his hand.

Tyson continued staring straight ahead, before finally he spotted a familiar shape in the distance. "We're getting close." Tyson called out, causing Liberty and Brian to look up.

Slowly but surely, a tower rose up from the ground, almost as big as the skyscrapers in New York. A large metallic O was on the front, evidently signifying it was Omega's base. On the ground, the group could see hundreds of tiny ants patrolling, electric fences, military jeeps parked. In each corner were guard towers, while on a platform at the back of the base were anti-aircraft guns. If the helicopter they were in was anything other than their current one, they would've been shot down without question.

"Shit." Liberty muttered, the full scope of what they were planning hitting her like a train. But no matter the cost, no matter the human lives she would extinguish she had to avenge her friends. The helicopter was reflected in the glass panels of the Omega building, before there was a click, and a radio started talking.

"_Beta Team, the landing pad is cleared for you. Mr. Jermaine requests information on the mission, over." _

Tyson's eyes widened. They couldn't even land, and they had to answer. He was about to reply in a bad way when Brian pushed on his shoulder and grabbed the receiver.

"Mission went fine," Brian said in a somewhat rusty imitation of Desmond. "The brats are down under the ground. Sorry for the voice, got bark in the throat by the fuckin' Brian. Kid's dead though, all of 'em are, over."

"_Good Beta. Land the helicopter and report immediately to Mr Jermaine, over." _

"Sure thing, over." Brian finished, the radio clicking off.

"Jesus..." Tyson said, looking at Brian with wide eyes. "Brilliant thinking there. So, here is the plan. We land this baby, and we get ourselves down."

Brian nodded, licking his lips. That was close, way too close.

As the helicopter turned around the building, the group of three caught sight of a large flat white building about as tall as a house yet much bigger in times of breadth and width.

"Those are the general testing laboratories." Tyson whispered. "Also where he's developing his army. Hundreds of Infected will be in there, lined up like sardines in a can."

The landing pad came in view, sticking from the roof slightly.

"This is it." Tyson said, before coming to a land. The rotor's slowed, before finally stopping.

The door slid open, revealing two soldiers staring somewhat dumbly at Brian and Liberty.

"Hey." Brian said, raising his pistol and letting off two shots between the eyes. Brian jumped out at the same time as Liberty, shooting another guard by a door, leaving the rooftop cleared. Tyson came out, the LAW on his shoulder.

"Right guys. I'm going to cause a distraction down at the bottom so you can get down in relative ease."

"How will you do that?" Liberty asked, feeling adrenaline starting to form.

"Jump." Tyson let off a grin, before he ran and dived straight off the side of the building, leaving Brian and Liberty with their jaws dropped.

Tyson's hair and clothes whipped in the air as he gained speed going down. With slight difficulty, Tyson pointing the LAW as he fell, pressing the trigger. A missile shot out, spiralling down to the ground, hitting a jeep with a spectacular explosion of fire and metal. The recoil pushed the large handle into his shoulder and causing him to go back first in one of the glass windows, shattering it and landing on a large wooden desk. Tyson groaned slightly, but he used extended spikes on his back to break his fall. Tyson stood up, cracking his neck and swung the shotgun in his hand, pointing it at a number of surprised workers, who quickly reacted by pulling out pistols they were forced to wear.

"Hey." Tyson said, mimicking Brian and letting off a shotgun blast into the closest worker, rolling back off the desk as bullets flashed past him. Thank god the workers weren't good shots.

Back at the roof, Brian and Liberty went through the door, climbing down some steps at a jog. When he reached the bottom, his was face with two machine guns from soldiers. Brian acted instinctively, pushing Liberty down and ducked himself as bullets flew over his head. He used his pistol with expert aim, getting at the soldier's throat. Brian pulled Liberty's arm, sprinting down the corridor. It turned out there were much more soldiers than expecting, hiding in the offices. In a unit they stood up and fired at the two.

Brian and Liberty sprinted as paper and glass flew in the air, wood splitting and smashing. Brian saw the stairs and smashed open the door, hitting an unfortunate worker trying to see what the commotion was about. Brian was about to leap down the stairs when Liberty pulled his arm.

"Lift!" She grunted, pointing to a metallic lift which had just opened, revealing some more surprised workers. Brian nodded and fired off shots, downing the workers. He slid into the lift, followed closely by Liberty. He slammed his palm for the ground floor. The doors slid shut just as soldiers came round the corner, firing their machine guns.

Metal against metal sounded as bullets hit door, but Liberty and Brian were on their way down.


	28. Controlled

**(thanks to wolfgal-leah, and Saxvalent-Plight of the light for your reviews! Also to the guy with no name, yup, I'll be doing a story after this one. However this is the last part of THIS story, especially with the stuff I got coming up. Anywho, read on!" **

Tyson pulled the remnants of his t-shirt off of himself as he stared around at the carnage that surrounded him. Blood stained every which way, desks were broken and walls were covered in cracks and Tyson's own spikes. His back was covered in long spines, which had ripped his t-shirt to pieces.

Tyson walked through the destroyed area gingerly, looking for some kind of sign of where he was. When he came to the stairwell, he saw that he was on floor 17. Tyson went to walk down the stairs when there were heavy footsteps from the stairs. Tyson moved up the next flight of stairs and stared down as soldiers came up, machine guns pointed and the elevator.

'_Odd...'_ Tyson thought, just as the elevator opened, revealing both Brian and Liberty looking a bit surprised. Tyson acted immediately, jumping down and crashing into the first line of men, knocking them to the ground, he spun around and slashed at the other line of five men, cutting their arms and chests. Tyson pointed his hand behind him and let a spike shoot off into a last man's skull. As he collapsed to the ground, Tyson moved to Brian and Liberty. "What the hell are you thinking!"

"What do you mean?" Brian asked.

"Taking the elevator? Really?" Tyson shook his head. "What better way to advertise where you are. I was hoping you'd take the sneaky approach."

"They WERE waiting for us at the roof." Liberty put in. "We had no choice to get to the lift, which opened just as we got to the end of the room. We figured it would be better to get down quickly.

"For all you knew they could have just cut the wires and made you plummet to your deaths. You're lucky they decided to stop it so the soldiers could get to you."

"Well, sorry." Brian said.

"No matter. Let's go, we got to go down."

Tyson led the other two down 7 flights of stairs before they came upon the first obstacle. The next stairwell was blocked by another group of guards with machine guns trained on the three. Tyson quickly grabbed Liberty and threw her into the offices, before diving into them himself. Brian just managed to roll away as the wall was ripped apart by bullets.

"Grenade!" Brian exclaimed, throwing one into the stairwell. The guards tried to scamper out of the way, but were too slow when the grenade exploded with such ferocity it knocked a section of the roof down, collapsing on the doorway.

"Goddamn it!" Tyson cursed as there exit was blocked. He looked around for another exit, but he couldn't find any. After all, that was the only exit.

A sudden whirring drew all three's attention to the window, where none other than a helicopter was facing the large windows.

"Duck!" Tyson exclaimed, pulling the others down as the helicopter let off machine fire, shredding desks and floor alike. "Try moving the rubble!" Tyson said, before he suddenly sprinted from his cover and jumped boldly out of the window.

The pilot of the helicopter saw the blur, but couldn't react in time. A sharp claw smashed through the window and slashed through the pilot's neck. Tyson quickly dispatched of some soldiers in the back just as the helicopter started to fall. Tyson cursed and turned around, taking a running dive out of the broken window as the helicopter plummeted. He stretched out as hard as he could to reach the window sill, but his fingers brushed it and missed. Tyson started following the helicopter by plummeting to the earth.

Tyson figured this was the end, and closed his eyes waiting for it. What he didn't expect was something hard wrapping around his stomach. Tyson opened his eyes to see some slimy limb, before he was pulled straight through a window. Tyson smashed back first through the window before he was thrown hard into a wall. Tyson got to his knees, seeing none other than the Goliath apparently remade due to the ugly scar under his chin.

"Thanks for saving me." Tyson said, standing up. "Now I got to kill you."

The goliath just roared, all four tongue tentacles firing at Tyson. Tyson jumped out of the way, landing nimbly on his feet. The Goliath let off another roar which sounded oddly like 'bring it'.

**XXX**

"Tyson!" Liberty exclaimed, looking out of the window, but Brian pulled her back.

"He'll be fine. Come on. Unlike him, we're merely humans." Brian pulled Liberty back to the door and started trying to shift the rubble to no avail. "God damn!"

Liberty and Brian both tried to move the rubble, but failed in doing so.

"What are we going to do?" Liberty asked. "Just stay here until they send another helicopter?"

"I don't know!" Brian said, looking angry. He pulled out another grenade, leaving only one more.

"You need to save those." Liberty frowned, but Brian shrugged.

"We're not getting out of here any other way." Brian said, before the rubble was suddenly propelled outwards, smashing into Brian and Liberty. A rock caught Liberty's head, splitting the skin and knocking her out. Brian was hit in the chest, rolling over end where his back hit a desk. Brian coughed, when he saw a large figure in the now destroyed doorway. "Shit... Tank..." Brian muttered.

"Brian?"

Brian's eyes widened and he got to his feet, staring in disbelief at the figure. Now the dust had cleared... it was obvious. Brian grinned. "Zach! You got out!"

"Brian?" Zach repeated in and odd voice, taking a step forward.

"Yes... that's me." Brian said, his grin somewhat faltering. Something was wrong.

"Target acquired." Zach said. "Orders to kill? Accepted."

Zach suddenly thrust a great fist into Brian's stomach. Brian's eyes bulged out of his head, blood falling from his mouth, before he was thrown into a wall, groaning as he fell down.

"Z-Zach?" Brian questioned, slowly getting to his feet and looking to his best friend.

Zach just let of a primal roar, and picked up a piece of rubble and threw it at Brian, who dived to the side just in time.

"Zach! It's me, Brian!" Brian exclaimed, confused at why Zach was trying to kill him.

"Orders are to kill Brian." Zach said again in that odd voice, before letting off another roar and charging at Brian.

"They've got you..." Brian muttered in dismay, before diving to the side as Zach smashed into the wall. Brian's face turned into anger. "They got you! I'm going to have to force the bad out of you then. It'll be just like old times where we play-wrestled!" Brian said, thinking to himself '_ignoring the fact he is now part Tank'_

"You are to be exterminated!" Zach said in response, growling and showing teeth.

"Come on big guy!" Brian said. "You've never beaten me once in the lessons! See if you can do it now!"


	29. Spiker vs Goliath

**(thanks to Saxvalent-Plight of the Light and wolfgal-leah for the reviews! Right, so the story will soon come to an end. I'll be having the Tyson vs Goliath fight (With a couple of surprises), Brian vs Zach (Again, with surprises), and then likely one more chapter before the epilogue. It will be at the epilogue I'll be revealing info about the sequel! Read on! **

Tyson ducked down as a tongue lashed through the air, cutting through the wall as if it were paper. The teenager sprinted forward as the Goliath reached down, but Tyson ducked down and slid straight under the Goliath's leg. He hopped up and sliced at one of the tongues with his sharp hand, cutting the flailing limb off. The Goliath suddenly backed up, crashing Tyson through one of the office walls. Tyson groaned in pain, before rolling out of the way as a tongue made its way where his head was. He put up his hand and fired off a few spikes, which embedded itself into the Goliath's jaw.

This only made the creature angrier as a tongue lashed at Tyson. Tyson jumped, but left himself vulnerable. A second tongue smacked him in the chest, causing him to crash into a desk. Tyson slowly stood up to be kicked hard in the jaw. As he fell to the ground, the Goliath kicked him in the stomach, causing Tyson to roll over.

"You're playing with... me..." Tyson managed to say, before the Goliath latched his hand around Tyson's face. Tyson quickly swung upwards blindly, his claws digging into the Goliath's face. The Goliath roared in pain, rearing back. Tyson took the chance to roll out of the way and let loose another set of spikes. The Goliath raised his arm, letting the spikes embed themselves into hard muscle. Tyson noticed that the arm was covered with green bulbous like growths, which seemed to pulse. Luckily his spikes had missed, as he guessed that wouldn't be a good place to hit.

The Goliath roared, before charging at Tyson much like a Charger would do, one shoulder in front of the other. Tyson ducked out of the way, but was suddenly grabbed around his neck. The Goliath had reached behind as he ran. With a roar, the Goliath threw Tyson forward, straight out one of the windows. For a moment Tyson seemed to hang, before he started falling. The Goliath followed, jumping out of the window.

Tyson grit his teeth and raised an arm, firing off one single spike. It flew upwards and hit straight into the much heavier Goliath's eye. It roared in pain and clutched its eye as it flew towards Tyson. In the air, Tyson grabbed Goliath's head and swung around so he was on his back, just as the Goliath crashed face first into the concrete, leaving a rather large hole. Tyson was bucked off, going straight into the side of a jeep, creating a dent in the chassis.

Tyson groaned, pulling himself out of the jeep's wreckage, facing the downed Goliath. There was a mass of clicking sounds, and Tyson looked around to see a large number of machine guns pointed straight at him.

"On my mark..."

Tyson turned to a man wearing a beret over his eye.

"Shoot!" The man said, bringing his arm down.

Before anyone could shoot, however, there was a collective cry of pain as a tongue crashed into each group. The Goliath stood up and let of an ear-shattering roar. The message was quite simple to the soldiers. _He is mine. _

Tyson spat to the ground, before running forward. The Goliath lunged outwards with one hand, but Tyson jumped, continuing running up the Goliath's arm. The Goliath reached with his other arm, but Tyson put his hands down onto the Goliath's arm and pushed upwards, flipping in the air and falling to the ground. As he did, he sliced a second tongue off, landing in a crouch.

The Goliath turned as Tyson ran forward. However the Goliath was surprisingly quick, throwing a meaty fist forward which caught Tyson smack bang in the chest. Tyson was thrown backwards, landing in the back of a transport lorry. Boxes of weapons surrounded him, ready to be packed. A tentacle sliced downwards, effectively cutting the lorry in half. Tyson managed to roll away, though he managed to get a machine gun in his more movable hand. As the Goliath turned, Tyson let loose a torrent of bullets in the Goliath's face, reducing it to a red mush. Instead of falling, the Goliath just swatted the machine gun out of Tyson's hands.

Tyson jumped backwards as a tongue swiped at his chest, before ducking the second. He crouched down a fired some spikes at the Goliath. This time the Goliath jumped high, using his Hunter traits. Tyson's head followed as the Goliath went into the air, before gaining the sense to run as the Goliath started to fall. Tyson took a last combat roll just as the Goliath smashed feet first into the ground. It roared, and two tongues slashed at Tyson. Tyson managed to dodge the first one, but the second cut deep into his cheek.

Tyson gasped at the stinging injury, before being backhanded hard across the face. As he fell to the ground, the Goliath grabbed his leg, causing the teen to hang in the air. The Goliath grabbed Tyson's arm, and then started to pull. Tyson screamed in pain as he was essentially being stretched. Just as he heard a crack, there was some kind of cackle, and the Goliath roared again in pain, dropping Tyson.

Tyson groaned as he hit the ground, and looked up to see some kind of figure straddling the Goliath on the shoulders, stabbing two metal spikes into the back of the Goliath's head. The figure leaped backwards just as the Goliath tried to punch the figure off, causing the creature to punch itself hard in the face.

The tall, blonde haired figure with a scar on his left eye grinned at Tyson, panting slightly. "Hey there. The names Jayce, but call me Jay. Been following you since you last killed this guy, and saw you with that Brian guy. You're a good guy, and I'm helping." Jayce suddenly ducked as a tongue flew past his head. "Now, I may be a jockey. But fuck me if I'm not going to help."

Jayce suddenly ran forward and slid under the Goliath's leg, at the same time as Tyson jumped. The Goliath got confused and was caught with both a hard slash to the face and had both back tongues cut off by Jayce's metal spikes. Now all tongues were gone, the Goliath let out a roar of pain and swatted Jayce away, before turned and punching Tyson hard in the chest. Both Half-Infected fell back together, hitting the ground.

Tyson got back to one knee. "Good work." He said, nodding to Jayce. "I don't know who the hell you are, but if you are what you say you are. An ally? I'll believe that. Now let's finish him." Tyson was about to move forward, when he frowned.

Jayce also looked confused. "What is he doing?"

The Goliath had gone to all fours, before he suddenly reared back, letting out a loud roar. Four tongues shot back to place from his back, blood now pouring down his back. Then two, flesh like stubs appeared from below its arms, before another pair of arms appeared. One was a three claw like hand, while the other was practically a spike.

Tyson couldn't believe it. "I am such a fool! In the test tube he had four arms, but he didn't when I worked with him. How could I have missed this? They must be activated by some kind of switch, probably a radio sequence. Goddamn!"

"This is bad." Jayce stated.

"No shit Sherlock." Tyson shook his head.

The Goliath suddenly leaped straight forward. Tyson and Jayce both leapt to the side as the Goliath stabbed hard into the ground with both spiked appendages. He ripped them out and spun around, roaring at the two Half-Infected.

"We are going to give this are best shot." Tyson said lowly. "To give Brian and Liberty the chance they need. Today is the day we are likely going to die. I hope you weren't too hasty to try and save me."

"Hasty?" Jayce shook his head. "Did you forget I followed you? And did you forget you were in a helicopter? How could I possibly follow a helicopter?" Jayce sudden let out a sharp whistle. "We followed you from the ground."

"We?" Tyson questioned.

"Let's call my allies, shall we? The Half-Infected Omega couldn't get their hands on. The ones who... ahh... shall we say 'disappeared'."

Tyson couldn't believe it, and grinned as figures walked in, surrounding the Goliath. There was a large armed Charger, a baseball hat sitting on his head, a trench coat wearing red-eyed witch, and finally a dark skinned Boomer.

"All right!" The Boomer exclaimed. "Let's go to town on this 'Goliath'!"

The Goliath merely roared, tongues waving in the air and the muscles on his arms bulging.

"Let's finish this then." The Charger said, charging at the Goliath to begin the fight.

**(Here comes the Half-Infected to save the day! I'll be explaining about why they followed and why there helping later. Right, so the Boomer belongs to Nezumimaru, Witch belongs to Saxvalent, and the Charger belongs to Francis-kiana Jones. **

**Hope you like it, and til next time! **


	30. Fight to the Finish

**(Thanks to Saxvalent-Plight of the Light and wolfgal-leah for the reviews. Right, to the guy with no name, I shall repeat. After Omega, the story will end. BUT, there WILL be a sequel. So Mr no name, to answer you question (for the second time), yes. I will continue this. Phew... anywho, time for the climax of the Goliath fight, where we have our Half-Infected joining in. It's not especially long in terms of fighting, but meh. Read on! **

Tyson grunted as he was thrown back yet again. He went to a crouch, watching as the other half-Infected tried to attack but were merely swatted away.

"Shit!" Jayce cursed as he dodged a tongue from beside Tyson. "By the way, you probably want to know who the others are. Boomer is Aaron, Witch is Aurrum, and Charger is Joshua." Jayce said quickly, before rolling out of the way of a tongue.

Joshua crashed into the four armed Infected's chest, knocking the Goliath back ever so slightly. In reply, the Goliath used its top two arms to grab Joshua around the neck, and then went to stab him with the spike like arm. Aaron managed to pull Joshua away just in time, before ducking down to avoid a sweep of the hand. As he ducked, Aurrum jumped up onto his back and leaped off, slashing her claws at the Goliath. She managed to cut across his face before she was swatted in the side like a fly.

Aurrum spun in the air before she collided on the concrete floor.

"Shit!" Aaron cursed, before he ran at the Goliath with a metal baseball bat he had brought to the fight. He swung it hard, slamming it into the Goliath's jaw. The Goliath was caught off guard, and Aaron followed up by swinging the bat into the Goliath's gut. Aaron went for another blow but was grabbed around the neck by a hand, before being lifted up into the air. The Goliath roared, before he was suddenly slammed into the side with enough force to lift him off his feet. The Goliath slammed hard onto the floor.

Joshua panted, wiping sweat off his brow with his enlarged arm.

"I was... definitely... not made... for fighting..." Aaron panted, clutching his belly. "Nope, not me..."

"Shut it, and let's go." Joshua said, kicking off the ground and running at the Goliath. Just before he made contact, the Goliath stabbed forward and impaled Joshua in his muscled arm. Joshua shouted in pain before the Goliath punched him in the gut with both hands.

"Get off of him!"

The Goliath turned at the sound to receive a spike straight in the eye. He dropped Joshua and faced Tyson.

"Yeah, big guy. Me and you, let's fight." Tyson said, creating confidence.

The Goliath fired all four tongues at Tyson, but he sprinted forward and ducked at the same time.

"Perfect!" Tyson exclaimed, sliding underneath the Goliath's leg and throwing his arm up, managing to cut off two tongues at the same time. However he was too slow for the other two and they slammed into his face, knocking the boy back.

Not paying attention, the Goliath didn't see Joshua until it was too late. Joshua slammed shoulder first into the Goliath's spine, knocking him to the ground. Joshua then grabbed one of the tongues and pulled it straight out of its roots in a spray of blood. Joshua smiled before he was cracked in the side of the head by the last tongue, knocking him out cold.

The Goliath turned to the last man standing, who was practically shaking in his boots.

"Hey, hey, hey." Aaron said nervously. "Okay... calm down... any possibility of giving up?"

The Goliath just roared and fired the last tongue at Aaron. Aaron managed to duck down.

"Use the bile!"

Aaron turned at the sound to see Jayce rounding a corner. "Where did you go?"

"Just use the bile and it'll make sense." Jayce said.

"Fine." Aaron turned back to the Goliath, before slamming his own fist into his stomach. For a moment Aaron looked like he was about to be sick, before he raised his hair and actually did vomit bright green fluid all over the Goliath's front and face. Aaron stopped and let of a burp.

"Get out of there!" Jayce said just as the sounds of shrieking and running could be heard.

Aaron managed to back away to watch in amazement as hundreds of Infected charged through the compound, directed at one thing only. The bile covered Goliath.

"I see." Tyson said, picking himself up and watched as the Infected surrounded the Goliath. He looked to Jayce. "You freed the Infected Jermaine was experimenting on... but how did you do it so quick?"

"Our motive is to destroy Omega. Two days ago Aurrum snuck in by herself and sabotaged the containers so that they didn't lock. It was a matter of pressing the release button."

"Intelligent." Tyson nodded, when a roar shattered their conversation.

The two looked at the Goliath, who was now covered in gore and cutting down Infected every which way. After only a minute all the Infected were down, but it was clear the Goliath was wounded badly. He was panting, covered in cuts and actually missing an arm. The Infected were vicious.

With his back to the Omega building, the Goliath roared for the last time, ready to charge at the group who had slowly got back together.

The Goliath took one step forward before the front of his head suddenly exploded in blood and gore, teeth and brain matter splattering the floor in front. For a moment the Goliath stood swaying, before it crashed down to the floor.

A figure dropped down from the Goliath's neck before he had fallen, and stared at the group, the pistol in his hands.

Brian's face was blank and emotionless, though he was covered in blood. He walked forward towards the group.

"Hey Brian." Tyson said, but Brian just pushed past and started walking to the laboratories where the Infected had come from. "Brian?"

Brian didn't reply, just walked with determination.

**(Ooh, I believe questions have indeed been raised. Next chapter will begin when Zach confronted Brian in the building. **

**Till next time folks. **


	31. Friends to the End

**Sorry for the delay. Blame FF. Thanks to Saxvalent-Plight of the Light, and wolfgal-leah for the reviews. Right, so we are nearing the end. I would estimate this chapter, and then one or two more. Annnywho, let's catch up to Brian and Zach for their fight? Read on! **

Zach threw a hard punch at Brian, who easily rolled out of the way and dodged.

"That all you can do! Come on, Zach! You can do better, I know it!" Brian taunted, causing Zach to charge at him. Brian dodged out of the way and ran at Zach's back. Zach turned just to receive Brian's head straight onto his own. Zach growled and stumbled back, while Brian started pummelling away on his face. "If I can beat it outta you, I will!" Brian said through gritted teeth, before Zach grabbed him and threw him to the ground.

Brian rolled and stood up, panting. Zach's strength was just too much. He didn't know how to use it properly before, but now... now he was using everything he had to his full potential. Brian didn't know how to proceed. He couldn't kill Zach, no, that was out of the question, but he couldn't just let Zach remain like this...

"You make this so damn difficult!" Brian said, facing Zach. "You were always like that, charging ahead not thinking things through. Going off that building? Yep, that counts as charging ahead. Look where that's got you! Brainwashed by some freak!"

This got the desired effect and Zach roared, smashing his hands on the floor in anger.

"Can't stand a bit of ribbing? What's the matter, we did that all the time, insulting each other." Brian said. "So go on, reply you stupid fo-"

There was a loud crash as the floor suddenly buckled, causing a crack to go from end to end as Zach pitched forward through the floor down onto the floor before. Desks, computers and printers all followed down the large hole.

Brian looked down as Zach was covered in debris. "That better have knocked you out." Brian said.

"I doubt it very much."

Brian whipped around at the voice and saw a man dressed in fine clothes with a wine glass in his hand. Liberty was on the floor next to his feet, not moving.

"Who are you?" Brian asked.

"I'm the owner of this fine building you seem intent on destroying. Harvey Jermaine. I believe you are the one who killed my son, correct? A Desmond?"

"So you're the asshole who did this to Zach!" Brian exclaimed, stepping forward. "Where are the others? Where is Mazie and Elena?"

"My laboratory which is underneath the laboratory block down there." Harvey pointed out of the window. "There is actually a vent at the back you can break if you so wish to go in and save your friends."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"It's good to have some chance of saving friends." Harvey said, sipping the wine. "After all, Mr. Wilde is long gone. He is now a loyal servant and future commander for my Utopia."

"Zach isn't gone!" Brian said. "All I have to do is find his memories within his brain and get them back!"

"You misunderstand." Harvey said casually. "Mr. Wilde is dead, that body is merely a husk. The brain inside that body is one of my own creations, which hold no memories of anything other than me. So you can try to reason with my General as much as you please, it will not affect anything. You will be crushed like a little insect."

Brian took an angry step forward. "I don't believe you! Zach is st-"

"Be quiet." Harvey said, reaching in his jacket and pulling out a small pistol, pointing it straight at Brian's heart. "I am not a man to lie, nor am I a man to break his promises. I promise you this. Zach Wilde is dead."

"No! You're lying!" Brian exclaimed, his eyes showing the fury in him. "You are a lying asshole just like your son!"

Harvey tutted, taking another sip of wine. "Disbelievers are such a nuisance. So, Mr. Christy, let me make a believer of you." Harvey clicked his fingers, and there was a number of crashing sounds as Zach's body stood up from the wreckage, looking plainly at Harvey. "I am his master. I am the President of my Utopia. I have control over those who stand within my aspirations. You think he is Zach Wilde? Let me prove to you that even if I was lying, that Zach is dead."

Brian saw Harvey's finger twitch. "No-"

The loud pop caused Brian's eyes to widen in shock, anger, fury, sadness and a number of different emotions. As if in slow motion he saw the bullet go through the air and enter Zach's forehead, the back of his head blowing outwards in a spray of red. Zach fell to his knees, the eyes lifeless.

"No... No no... no... NO!" Brian also fell to his knees, shaking his head in denial. "This isn't... this can't be... no! Not... not real!"

"It is, Mr. Christy. If you doubted that he wasn't Zach, I just killed him again."

Brian stared at the ground with wide eyes.

**XXX**

_**"What's your name, anyway?" **_

___"Hm? Zach, Zach Wilde. Who's asking?" Zach put the bottle back into his locker and turned around to see the smaller figure of Brian Christy. _

_ "Brian Christy." _

_ Zach squinted. "Hey, you're the guy from that party yesterday... I think. Probably. Who knows." _

_ "That's why I'm here." Brian said. "I... uh, I don't drink, and those guys were forcing it on me, so when you came in, well, you distracted them enough for me to slip out. I just wanted to thank you." _

_ Zach shrugged. "Guess fate works that way, huh. Well, I don't really remember it, but I accept your thanks anyway. You play football?" _

_ Brian shook his head. "Not when I don't have to, why?" _

_ Zach pulled out some kind of ticket from his pocket and gave it to Brian. "Here. You should come watch me play in the school tournament, see me beat those fake players to the ground. Free of charge." _

_ "Thanks, that's... that's quite considerate."_

_ "Don't mention it." Zach waved it away and started walking away. "See you around then, Brian." _

**XXX**

_Just as more Infected burst in the doorway, Brian smashed the window with his shoulder, and jumped straight out. Keep Zach above him, Brain landed harshly in the bushes, and breathed heavily._

_Sensing nothing was injured, Brian stood up and looked over Zach. No visible injuries. "Good enough." Brian said, before hosting Zach up on his shoulders, and running as fast as was possible with the dead weight of Zach. When not high or drunk, Zach was a fitness freak, and loved to work out to impress the ladies._

_This didn't help Brian, but he grit his teeth and ran away from the creatures, which started running after him._

_Not knowing what was happening, and not particularly caring at this moment, Brian hefted Zach more comfortably on his shoulders, and headed towards the city. Even though shocked, Brian figured it would be best to find somewhere safe to hole up, and damn him if he would let himself or Zach get killed by whatever those things were._

_"Always giving me trouble, eh Zach." Brian said to himself, grinning, trying to remain optimistic, before melding into the darkness._

_**XXX**_

_Zach let off a yell, causing Brian to look over. The Tank had let of a roar, and had actually lifted Zach over his head._

_"Zach!" Brian yelled, and ran forward trying to tackle into the Tank. But it was fruitless, he was just too heavy._

_With another loud grunt, the Tank threw Zach, straight off the building. Zach plummeted like a rock, and there was a loud crash, followed by a car alarm._

_**XXX**_

Brian felt suddenly empty as the memories stopped. He had found a friend, gone through four and a bit months of being in the midst of a deadly Infection, to being separated and now... now he was dead?

"How do you feel, Mr. Christy?" Harvey asked with a smile of a serpent. "Angry? Conflicted? Perhaps... relieved? After all you were forced to forget any contact with humans as you allied with hi-"

"Shut up." Brian said quietly. "Don't say another word." Brian stood up, and faced Harvey. "You have done everything you could to ruin my life. You kidnapped someone I love... you killed someone was as a brother to me. I owe it to Zach's memory... and Gryphon's... Elena's and all my friends... I owe it to them... to put this organization into the ground! Trust me, _Harvey_, I will not stop until I have personally eradicated every mention of this organization. Every employee, every file, every vehicle, every building, every hidden armoury, allies, contacts, I will destroy them all! Omega has all but ruined my life. NOW I'LL RUIN YOUR 'UTOPIA'!"

Brian suddenly ran at Harvey, causing Harvey to press the trigger of the pistol. Brian was reading, ducking down as the trigger was pressed allowing the bullet to miss. Brian threw his hand up, slapping the pistol out of Harvey's hand. Harvey looked scared, but Brian quickly wiped the look off his face by a vicious head butt to Harvey's skull. As Harvey crumpled to the ground, Brian grabbed his collar and picked him up, slamming him against one of the windows so hard it cracked.

"Do you have any last words, Harvey?"

"Last words?" Harvey suddenly let out a smile. "Find the real me." Harvey suddenly pushed Brian forward, before turning around and throwing himself straight through the window. Harvey plummeted like a rock with no chance of survival.

Brian breathed hard, frowning. "Find the real you? So you weren't Harvey Jermaine... fine. Fine I'll call you on you offer." Brian turned and walked towards Liberty, looking for a pulse. Thankfully she was still alive. "I'll leave you here, Liberty, where you are relatively safe." Brian stood up and headed towards the exit, picking up the pistol on his way. "I'm going to start the eradication of Omega."


	32. Reunited

**(Thanks you Saxvalent-Plight of the Light for your review! Right, penultimate chapter today so that should be cool, although I leave it on a cliffhanger. Read on! **

Brian had already made his way into the laboratories by the door which had broken from the Infected earlier who attacked the Goliath. Going through the rooms, he ignored the broken windows and equipment, before making his way down to a door, which was already open. Ignoring this fact, Brian continued down a flight of stairs underground.

Soon enough, the shady laboratory emerged with pale green vats of various figures. Brian walked along with determination before he saw three figures in a line. There was what could only be a half-smoker, the tongue floating somewhat as if it had a life of its own. Next to him was Mazie, her small figure looking especially vulnerable with a bandage around where the bullet had shot her. Finally...

"Elena..." Brian breathed, facing the unconscious girl. She looked thin and ill, her hair floating up behind her with faint bubbles rising to the surface.

"You'll find the controls over there."

Brian turned to see Tyson leaning against a wall. "Tyson..."

"Hey. I'm going to guess what happened, and I'm sorry for the way it happened. All I can say now is it'll be best to get these three free and to get the hell out of here. Apparently that group of Half-Infected from before want to invite us into their little group."

"Hm..." Brian nodded, before walking over to a panel which Brian was pointing too. Each button had a number, which related to one of the glass cylinders. He looked at the cylinders again, noting the number, before he pressed numbers thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen.

Immediately the water inside the cylinders started to drain, causing all three to slump to the floor. A clicking sound followed, indicating the cylinders had been unlocked.

Brian went over to the half-smoker first, who was Julius Magnus, and pulled him from the cylinder.

Julius' eyes opened when he saw Brian, and immediately he pushed away, but stumbled and fell to the floor.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Brian said quietly. "You are rescued."

Julius looked suspicious, but nevertheless nodded. "Thank you Mr...?"

"Brian." Brian said. "Brian Christy."

"My name is Julius Magnus. I cannot thank you enough for this." Julius managed to stand up. "Not one of my best moments, it has to be said."

Brian nodded, before going over to Mazie and releasing her as well. The moment her body made contact with Brian she opened her eyes.

"I'm not an enemy." Brian said at the panicked look on Mazie's face. "I am freeing you."

"W-Who are you? Why?" Mazie asked, shivering somewhat.

"Brian Christy. You are a victim of Omega, so it is only natural for me to free those they manipulated." Brian said, before turning away and walking to Elena.

The final cylinder opened and Brian pulled Elena up, whose eyes flicked open.

"Elena?" Brian asked softly.

"Brian?" Elena muttered, before her eyes widened. "Brian! You're alive? You... is that really you?"

"It's me. I'm here for you." Brian said. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone. Gryphon told me what you two went through, how you were captured..."

"That's right... he ran away." Elena frowned. "I'll have to hit him when this is over. While it was the right thing to do..." Elena let out a small laugh and looked around Brian, only seeing Tyson, Mazie and Julius. "Where is he anywhere?"

"Elena..." Brian said quietly. "I'm sorry. He... He didn't make it."

"Wh-what?" Elena blinked, shaking her head at Brian. "Excuse me?"

"Gryphon... Ellis was killed when we fought a special infected. He... is dead, Elena. I'm sorry, but he is gone."

"No..." Elena shook her head again. "No, you're kidding. This isn't... no..." Elena's legs seemed to give way, and she fell forward straight into Brian's arms. Brian held her tight, not saying a word. Elena had started crying, burying her face into his shoulder.

The two remained embraced for a couple of minutes, Brian letting Elena mourn in her own way.

A sudden _pop_ rung loud in the laboratory, almost like gunfire. For a moment Brian lifted his head and looked across the room, seeing one of the soldiers with a pistol in hand. The man was panting, covered in small scratches and rips.

"No!" Tyson exclaimed, running over to the man and dispatching him quickly.

Brian watched for a moment, before he felt an intense pain in his shoulder. He cursed and saw blood running down his arm. Then his gaze turned to Elena's back, which also had blood running down her spine, into her clothes. Alarms rang out in Brian's head.

"Elena? Elena!" Brian quickly pulled Elena off him, to see an exit wound in her chest. "No... no, not you too... not you... no!" Brian lay Elena on the ground feeling as if his head was on fire. "Elena, Elena no... don't go... I love you, please, please, don't go! Don't do this to me!" Brian pleaded, feeling his eyes growing hot. Losing Zach and now Elena was... it was too much for Brian and he let out a loud cry of misery, hugging Elena close to him.

Elena managed to raise her arm, brushing her fingers across Brian's tear streaked face. Brian held the hand, staring at Elena's pale face.

"Th-thank y-you... Brian... for accepting... me..." Elena managed to say. "For-or being a... good friend..."

"Don't talk, please, don't talk." Brian said, ignoring the others who had started to come around. "Don't waste your energy. We'll get you out of here, and we'll let you live, and you can survive, so don't go... please, don't..."

"Brian." Tyson said lowly from behind Brian, grabbing his shoulder. "Brian, please..." Brian let himself be pulled back as he stared at Elena's face, whose eyes were closed.

"Elena..." Brian moaned, clenching his fists. "Zach... Ellis, why does this happen? Why... why do you die... why...?" Brian found his legs failing him, and he fell to the ground on his knees before falling to all fours, his whole body shaking. The cries of Brian echoed around the laboratories, a man who lost all he knew, a man whose mind had failed him. More importantly, a man who at that moment with the death of the person he loved, gave up.


	33. Epilogue

**(Thanks to Saxvalent-Plight of the Light. Allright! So this it, the end of the story, the epilogue, overview, and hint at what the next story will be about. Thanks to those of you who reviewed, read, and enjoyed Left 4 Dead: Donna Nobis Pacem (Grant us Peace). The sequel will be out once I finish one of my other four stories. So, from me, thank you for reading, and please read on for this chapter! Adios!) **

_One Year Later_

A normal person would have assumed that the Infection would have died out. They would have thought that humans would slowly come back to power, and the world would go back to its normal state. Presidents and Prime Ministers would go back to leadership, wars would be fought, and peace would be made. Terrorists and saviours, deaths and births. Fame would grow, celebrity's dying and new ones being formed.

That normal person would have been completely wrong.

The Infection didn't stop. For a couple of months it decreased a lot. There were hardly any humans to kill and Infect, and the Infected starting fighting each other causing a drastic decrease. Like animals, they evolved. The Infected developed ways to defend themselves, and they grew like animals, even using primal mating tactics to give birth to a whole new way of life, some might say a whole new species.

The experiments of Omega contributed to the fast population increase, due to some of the personally developed Infected escaping.

The world was in a state of emergency. Everywhere from the USA to Asia to Europe were affected. Whole cities wiped clean of humans. Banks destroyed, money coming to a halt. It was worse than anyone could have imagined.

However, like any apocalypse, there were survivors.

They were littered in caves or in forests or in small towns. Living like animals, wary for any Infected. It was rare to live past 40.

It was in one such forest, in an old bunker, that a group of only two people had lived for the majority of the year, surviving off rations.

Liberty Starr was the one who stayed there the most. She generally read books from an old collection. Liberty was also one of the only human survivors of the 'Omega Incident' as it was dubbed. Where the main laboratories and building were destroyed.

The other person who lived in the bunker was Brian Christy. Often with a blank expression, Brian was a quiet man with only one objective in mind. The eradication of Omega, for there were still specks of the organization located around. Scientists who escaped, and more importantly, Harvey Jermaine. That was Brian's ulterior motive, to kill Harvey himself.

Brian was out a lot of the time for his searching, now with a rough beard from not shaving for a year. His eyes showed just how much he had gone through. Though, Brian had a habit of visiting the graves of his best friend and the person he loved. Zach Wilde and Elena Quail, two of the most important people in his lives were killed by Omega, fuelling the desire for revenge.

While they were two of the human survivors, there existed a 'Half-Infected' group. They were hunted by both the Infected and the humans. They were outcasts, yet they were likely the most civilized. More and more were found as the Infection increased, creating a civilization in a specially made underground complex. Some had small deformities, such as a Witches claws, or a Smoker's tongue. Others looked almost like the Infected themselves.

Recently, some had developed unique features not seen in actual Infected. They trained to fight with what they had. Not for any purpose other than surviving. They were led by a man named Vincente, who had come from Italy a year before. He had specific assistants, or 'Generals', so called, who were the original half-infected. Aaron the Boomer, a man who liked to joke around, but also someone who was devoted on helping the children. Jayce Chalandra, an arrogant and often insulting Jockey. Even so, he was looked up for helping in many an expedition to save other Half-Infected. Mazie Collins and Aurrum Wrayth, two Witches. They helped the woman and the otherwise vulnerable. Joshua Sparks, the charger, helped in forming sufficient strategies. Finally there was Julius Magnus, a Smoker. He was adept at research, and had salvaged much equipment for the Half-Infected to use.

Not only did the Half-Infected look up to these men and woman, but also those that died in the line of duty. Two of which even had small statues for their service and devotion. The first was Ellis Evergreen, a man who hadn't actually been in the growing civilization. He died fighting, though, and was well respected for it. He was in fact the first Half-Infected known to be killed. The second was Tyson Roberts. While he wasn't actually confirmed as dead, his was MIA, presumed dead. Half a year before he had left for 'research' and hadn't come back since.

**XXX**

The Half-Infected, the Humans, and the Infected. Three completely different civilizations in a completely different Earth. The lived, they died, they developed and they evolved.

It was in the year 2012, one year after the Omega Incident, where a new group was formed. A group intent on destroying not only the Infected, but the Half-Infected and any humans who were a threat. A group which was formed from the remnants of the United Kingdom, a group simply known as 'Artemis'. It was Artemis which would prove either the rise or the fall of the human race as a whole.


End file.
